The Chairman of Safana Local Government Area in Katsina, Abdullahi Sani Safana, has said his administration is making preparations to marry off more widows and orphan girls whose parents were killed by bandits in the area.
Sani Safana said, shouldering such responsibility of weddings and provision of basic needs has become an order of the day in his council area especially for the hundreds of Children and widows, victims of banditry.
The Chairman disclosed this to newsmen in Safana town on a visit to the area to assess the impact of Special Security operations in the banditry frontline areas as ordered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The Chairman said peace is gradually returning to the area which borders Dajin-Rugu forest, the hot point of the bandits terrorizing both Katsina and neighboring Zamfara and Kaduna States.
“Before now, on a daily basis the bandits had plans on where to strike, but now it can take up to a week without having a report of the bandit’s attack.”
He said apart from joint operations led by the army, the state governor Malam Dikko Umar Radda has recruited Youth tagged Community Watch Corps which are trained and equipped with necessary tools to protect the communities.
“There are armored vehicles on patrol all the time along with our local vigilantes and Civilian JTF from Borno, that’s why we are now having relative peace.”
According to the Safana LG chairman, because the bandits blocked passages of movement, poverty was very visible among his people, which prompted them to assist them whenever they needed it.
He said, “As I am talking to you now, apart from the assistance we are giving to the people to meet their daily needs, we are also shouldering the responsibility of wedding ceremonies of girl’s children and widow’s victims of the banditry.
“We have so far married up to 13 and plans are underway to fix more with their suitors. We have to do it in order to curb immorality”. Sani Safana said.
In a related development, Mai’adua Local government is planning a Mass wedding of Widows and Girls, to control immorality which plagued the area neighboring Niger Republic.
Chairman Mamman Salisu Na-Allahu disclosed this to newsmen in Mai’adua while narrating the efforts they are making to curb drug trafficking and arms smuggling in the border area.
Na-Allahu said, as leaders of the council, they are planning a Mass wedding of over 1,500 women, he said this includes widows and girls.
“We are right now training them on various skills acquisition programs, so as to prevent them from becoming a liability in their homes or to their spouses.”
Tribune Correspondent in Katsina said Mai’adua Local Government housed Mai-Mujiya, a village at the edge of Nigeria and Niger border.
The Village is well known and patronized by all sorts of criminals including women prostitutes, which makes the women and Girls in the area prone to join the band of immorality.
The Mai’adua Chairman also said the border towns of the two neighboring countries join hands in fighting crimes like drug trafficking and insecurity.
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