Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State says bandits who have been terrorising most of the north, and who have been offered amnesty by some governors in the region, aren't aliens from outer space.
Gov Masari of Katsina says 'bandits are people we know, people like me'
The governor says most bandits were herders who have been forced into taking lives by climate change.
Katsina Gov Aminu Bello Masari explains a point during chat with select online media in Lagos
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“They are the same people like me, who speak the same language like me, who profess the same religious beliefs like me," Bello says during a ChannelsTV breakfast programme.
He adds that: “So, what we have here on ground are bandits; they are not aliens, they are people we know, they are people that have been living with us for 100 of years.
“The infiltration we have from some West African countries and North African countries are also people of the Fulani extraction.
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“Majority of those involved in this banditry are Fulanis--whether it is palatable or it is not palatable but that is the truth.
"I am not saying 100% of them are Fulani but majority of them are, and these are people who live in the forest and their main occupation is rearing of cattle.”
The governor adds that over time, the fortunes of herders have dwindled due to climate change, lack of access to education, and teachings received from radical Islamic scholars, hence their resort to banditry or terrorism.
Bandits and terrorists have masterminded a slew of kidnappings-for-ransom, mindless killings and abduction of school students in Nigeria's arid northern region, on President Buhari's watch.
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