Protest Rocks Katsina Community as Terrorists Kill Businessman

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

Aggrived residents of Sabon Garin Yahuza in Batagarawa Local Government Area of Katsina State have taken to the streets against what they described as the gruesome murder of a businessman in the community, Alhaji Abu Mai Bulawus, by suspected terrorists.

Mai Bulawus was killed Wednesday morning by the hoodlums, who invaded his residence, located a few metres away from the checkpoint mounted by the personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), close to their training college in the Katsina metropolitan area.

One of the protesters, Kabiru Abdullahi, told THISDAY that they embarked on the protest because of the gruesome killing of the community businessman by the suspected terrorists despite the heavy presence of the NSCDC personnel in the area.

He lamented that the community, which was known for its peaceful nature, had become a killing field, adding that residents of the community were also contending with the prevailing kidnapping, robbery and cattle rustling.

He said: “The gunmen riding on motorcycles came around 2:47am on Wednesday and started shooting sporadically at the residence of Alhaji Abu Mai Bulawus. We heard them saying follow us or we will kill you but Alhaji refused to follow them so they killed him.

“More worrisome is that this community is not up to 100 metres away from the NSCDC Training College and the house of the victim is opposite their checkpoint, but they did not even make an attempt to fire their guns at least to scare the attackers away.

“This is not the first attack on this community but we got little or no help from the NSCDC officers. The only thing they know how to do best is to remain at their checkpoint and collect N20, N50 and N100 from motorists. They should leave our town.”

The state Police Command is yet to issue a statement on the incident, but the Provost of the NSCDC Training College and Divisional Police Officer of Batagarawa were on the ground to console the protesters who set ablaze the NSCDC checkpoint.

However, a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the local government, who craved anonymity, said terrorists were operating with brazen impunity in in the state “in broad daylight, they sack villages and annihilate the people”.

According to him, “They rustle animals, raze markets and reduce houses to rubble; they destroy farms and pillage resources. They rape women, abduct men and demand ransoms their relations can’t afford.”