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Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, has called on the people in the areas prone to the activities of bandits to acquire weapons and defend themselves against the bandits.
The governor said it was morally wrong for people to submit meekly to the bandits without any attempt to defend themselves, noting that security is everybody’s business.
According to him, it is the people’s meek submission that emboldens the bandits to continue with their heinous activities with murderous frequency, adding that people must divorce their minds from the mistaken notion that security is the government’s sole responsibility.
Governor Masari stated this in Jibia town when he visited to condole with the people over the death of ten people, crushed, on Monday, by the operative of the Nigerian Customs Service who were driving an official vehicle with reckless abandon.
He assured the people that the government was perusing all the necessary legal steps to seek redress for the families of the deceased, as well as those who sustained various degrees of injuries.
He added that legal experts had already been consulted to advise on the way forward to ensure speedy (legal) resolution of the matter.
The governor, however, cautioned the families of the victims not to succumb to any covert enticement from the Nigerian Customs Service, saying that doing so will compromise and jeopardise the government’s efforts to secure justice for the bereaved and injured.
“What customs operatives are doing is wrong, and therefore unacceptable.
“Do not succumb to any covert enticement from the customs service, no matter what they offer or promise to do for you.
“Whatever they want to do for you, let it be in the open, not in secret.
“ If you accept any secret offer, then you will be truncating the government’s efforts to seek justice for you, but if you resist any untoward move, the organisation will then have to rethink its attitude towards its host community.”
