President Buhari Speaks On Killing Of 30 People By Bandits In His Home State Katsina

President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the killings of not less than 30 people by suspected bandits in two villages in Katsina, his home state.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that about 30 persons were killed between Friday night and Saturday morning at Tsauwa and Dankar villages in Batsari Local Government Area of the state.

The suspected bandits burnt the homes of their victims and also killed some animals.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Sanusi Buba, had while briefing the media on Saturday, said the police did not know the cause of the killings.

“I still find it surprising. What could have been the motive? These people (bandits) could carry out such a dastardly act? We are, however, after them,” the police commissioner had said.

However, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on Sunday, February 16, 2020, Buhari said the the killings that took place in his home state over the weekend were done in retaliation of what the farmers had done to the bandits earlier.

The president, however, condemned the attacks, insisting that no one had the right to take the law into their own hands.

The statement titled “Revenge killings in Katsina State unacceptable”, partly reads:

“President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the latest round of attacks on farmers by bandits in Damkal and Tsanwa villages in Batsari local government area of Katsina state, saying that killing people in the name of revenge is not acceptable.

“Reacting to the incident in which many homesteads were razed by fire with many people killed at weekend, the President on Sunday warned that no one in the country has a right to take the law into his hands by the way of self-help or revenge.

“Local communities that catch bandits should hand over the suspects to law enforcement authorities instead of meting out capital punishment, leading to a cycle of revenge and counter revenge.

“The authorities must be allowed to investigate and deal with any breach that occurs. There is no place for violence in a decent society,” said the President.

Buhari prayed that God would comfort families that have lost loved ones in the attacks and repose the souls of the victims.

This is coming a week after suspected bandits shot at a helicopter belonging to the Nigeria Police Force, and the police killed over 250 of its members.