Katsina buries 18 farmers killed by bandits -

Vanguard news reported that residents of Katsina State, yesterday, buried the remains of 18 persons killed by bandits in Yargamji village of Batsari Local Government Area of the state.

Chief Imam of Katsina Central Mosque, Ustaz Mustapha Ahmed, led the funeral prayers at the palace of Emir of Katsina, Dr. Abdulmumini Usman, after which they were buried at the Dan Takum burial ground.

The Emir, Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, with many district heads and traditional title holders, government officials were among hundreds of sympathisers, who attended the funeral rites.

The farmers were killed in their farmlands at Yar-gamji community on Tuesday morning.

The Police later evacuated the corpses and dropped them at the palace of the District Head of Batsari, Alhaji Tukur Muazu Ruma, which triggered a protest by angry youths.

The youths later took the corpses in vehicles to the palace of the Emir of Katsina and Katsina Government House, where Governor Aminu Masari addressed them and called on them to remain calm, as government was taking steps to address the problem.

Speaking shortly after the funeral rites, District Head of Batsari, Mannir Rumah, said the bandits had earlier threatened to make farming impossible this season.

Rumah stressed the need for the security personnel to live up to expectation by providing adequate security and protecting lives and property of the people.

Similarly, Chairman, Batsari Council, Mannir Ma’azu, who described the killings as unfortunate, lamented lack of response from security personnel to their distress calls.

He said: “Armed bandits attack us every night, but this particular incident happened in the morning we were attacked on our farmlands.

“It is different from what we normally experience. And there is a limit to what we can do. We have been communicating with Police but we hardly see them taking action when we needed them the most.”

(Vanguard News Nigeria)