Nigeria: Aisha Buhari demands end to banditry, assures relief materials to victims

The first lady of Nigeria, Aisha Buhari has insisted the security agencies to immediately provide support to poor people in the northwest state of Katsina who are tremendously suffering from bandits’ attacks.

While expressing concern over the high incidence of bandits attacks, the wife of Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari has urged the National Social Investment Programme to take immediate action. She was talking about the imminent distribution of relief materials to the victims of banditry. Already N500bn was released by the Federal Government to assist vulnerable citizens and only a few had been benefited, as reported by Punchng.com.

Aisha Buhari told her audience that it was necessary to degrade the criminals before they end the civil population. Buhari said all well-meaning Nigerians should talk on things that were going wrong in the country, so as to elicit necessary action.

"We should not keep silent while things are happening, thinking that if something happens today it will not happen tomorrow. It is compulsory to speak the truth, it is not proper for us to give the highest number of votes during the general elections and allow bandits continue killing people and keep quiet," she told her audience. "We must speak on whatever is going wrong in the country," she said, Xinhua noted.

Hundreds of people have been killed in attacks linked to cattle-rustling gangs in northwest Nigeria this year alone. The northern part of Nigeria has witnessed several killings by armed bandits despite the deployment of soldiers there. Cattle raiding has recently become a major crime in Nigeria, with the northern part of the most populous African country being the hardest hit.

Recently, security agencies in Sokoto, Katsina, Kaduna and Zamfara states said they were collaborating to tackle criminality in their areas of operation. The Nigerian government had in May announced banning use of motorcycles within the hinterland and forests of seven states, citing security reasons, Xinhua further added.

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