Kankara district head suspended for financing bandits

The Katsina Emirate Council has suspended Yusuf Lawal from the post of the district head of Kankara for allegedly financing the activities of bandits in the region.

The suspension followed extensive insecurity in President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state.

In a statement, Katsina Emirate’s secretary Iro Bindawa said Mr Lawal’s sudden suspension followed residents’ complaints of his miscreant activities.

The secretary added that the district head fate will be decided after inquiries had been concluded.
It was doubtful whether or not Mr Lawal had been handed over to the police. A spokesman for the police in Katsina did not accept a request seeking comments.

Katsina, which is Mr Buhari’s home state, and other northern states have remained a hotspot for kidnapping and banditry in Nigeria.

In December 2020, 344 students were abducted from a Katsina boarding school. The event happened at Government Science Secondary School, Kankara. The students were acquited after negotiations with the federal government that reportedly included a substantial ransom.

Jihadist group Boko Haram, while claiming responsibility for the kidnapping, said the attack was carried out to rein in un-Islamic practices in the school, especially Western education.

In the midst of the anxiety of bandits attacking schools, Governor Aminu Masari, in March, ordered all boarding schools shut. Mr Masari’s administration also disclosed plans to deploy security dogs to protect school children in state-owned boarding schools.