Northern Youths Dismiss Report On Kano As ‘New Bandits Frontier’

A group, the Northern Youth Assembly (NYA) has dismissed the report describing Kano State as a “new bandits frontier,” saying it was not only false but a deliberate attempt to smear the image of a state that had historically demonstrated resistance, rejection and resilience against insecurity.

NYA, in a statement signed by its president, Dr Aliyu Mohammed and secretary-general, Dr Hafiz Garba, said while public discourse on security is welcome, the article in question departs from facts, distorts historical antecedents and realities and unarguably seeks to create panic rather than educate or enlighten the public.

The group stated that a proper analysis revealed Kano is not a frontier. Still, rather a state grappling with the spillover of banditry that was bred and entrenched under the previous administration in neighbouring states and within Kano itself.

According to them, the author ignored verifiable facts and failed to present a balanced context and perspectives.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the criminal elements currently troubling border communities were seeded, bred, and emboldened under the previous administration.

Across multiple local governments, the last administration allowed criminal gangs to flourish through an evident lack of political will, failure to address youth unemployment, which pushed thousands into drugs, thuggery, and other forms of criminal activities.

“Withdrawal of police personnel from known flashpoints in connivance with unpatriotic individuals and redeployed them to guard the Nassarawa royal graveyard, which was illegally converted into a refugee camp of sorts by a deposed Emir for himself and his ragtag entourage, leaving vulnerable communities exposed.

“Neglected border intelligence operations, thus allowing bandits to move freely between Katsina and the fringes of Kano state. These factual historical precedents were conveniently ignored in the publication,” the statement reads in parts.

NYA said contrary to the false impression created, Governor Abba Yusuf has demonstrated stronger, more coordinated, and more humane approaches than his predecessor ever attempted, such as the Safe Corridor Project, which has absorbed over 5,000 repentant youths in the first phase, fully profiled them to be engaged in community security, intelligence gathering, and neighbourhood watch structures.

“Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has consistently provided timely and immediate needed operational support to all security formations, strengthened collaboration with the Army’s Brigade Command, funded logistics, surveillance, and rapid-response units and repaired and equipped abandoned security infrastructure. This is not the behaviour of a government “weak on security,” as falsely portrayed.

“The publication conveniently omits the active sabotage being carried out by certain political actors who work with enemies of peace to undermine the state government, exploit the emirate crisis for political mileage, influence selective and politically-motivated withdrawal of security personnel and undermine the authority of the elected government in favour of federal opposition interests. No serious security analysis can ignore these realities.

“When attacks occurred in Tsanyawa, Shanono and Ghari, the state government deployed joint military and local intelligence structures, provided immediate humanitarian support to affected families, strengthened surveillance tools across border LGAs, reinforced collaboration with traditional rulers and vigilante units, and directed emergency relocation of security formations to vulnerable axes.

“These are verifiable actions on record. The publication in question ignores them and instead promotes a politically coloured narrative. We therefore urge the public to disregard the misleading publication and continue to support the state government’s efforts at keeping Kano peaceful, secure, and stable,” the statement added.