Katsina district head suspended for allegedly sponsoring banditry, kidnapping

Katsina Emirate Council has suspended district head of Kankara, Yusuf Lawal, for allegedly sponsoring the activities of bandits.

The suspension followed widespread insecurity in Kankara, Katsina State, which is also President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state.

SaharaReporters quoted a statement on Sunday by the Katsina Emirate’s Secretary, Iro Bindawa as saying Lawal’s immediate suspension followed residents’ complaints of his wicked activities.

The secretary added that the fate of the district head would be decided after the investigation had been concluded.

Katsina and other northern states have remained a hotbed of kidnapping and banditry in Nigeria.

Armed men suspected to be bandits had invaded the Government Science Secondary School in the Kankara Local Government Area of the state in December 2020, killing a security guard and kidnapping over 300 students.

The students were released after negotiations with the government that reportedly included a ransom.

Boko Haram, which claimed responsibility for the action, said the attack was carried out to halt practices considered anti-Islsm in the school, especially Western education.

Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, had ordered all boarding schools shut in March.

Masari’s administration also announced plans to deploy security dogs to protect schoolchildren in state-owned boarding schools.