Buhari orders communities to stop killing bandits in Katsina, condemns revenge killing of 30

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered local communities to stop killing bandits in Katsina State when they catch any. The president, however, told the people to rather hand over caught bandits to the law enforcement authorities. Buhari also condemned recent  cycle of attacks and killings between bandits and residents in Damkal and Tsanwa villages in Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State.

It was gathered that bandits had on Friday evening embarked on separate attacks on both villages, killing 30, mostly elderly women and children.

President Buhari in a statement on Sunday by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, declared that killing people in the name of revenge is not acceptable. The president insisted that no one has the right to take laws into their hands, mandating that if local communities catch bandits, they should be handed over to law enforcement authorities.

The president declared: “No one in the country has a right to take laws 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.”

President Buhari told community leaders and the local authorities to continue their efforts in partnership with law enforcement agencies to restore peace, law and order in their communities.

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

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