In the face of relentless banditry, Katsina villagers have been reduced to throwing stones at gunmen armed with assault rifles, a shameful picture of Nigeria’s collapsing security architecture.
When bandits stormed Bagari, the villagers fought back the only way they could, which was with rocks.
The result was devastating, with one killed, another abducted.
That desperate stand, born of courage but dripping with helplessness, forced a lawmaker to act where the government has refused.
Hon. Abubakar Muhammad, popularly called Total, who represents Funtua Constituency in the Katsina State House of Assembly, said he could no longer ignore the cries of his people.
“I was troubled when I heard residents use stones to confront bandits; that courage moved me, but it also broke me. It was then I decided to help them with arms,” he told RFI.
For months, villages such as Maska, Makera, Ungwan Shanu, and Bagari have been under siege. Survivors repeatedly dialed the police during attacks, only for security forces to arrive after the bandits had vanished.
“They told me that if they had guns, they could have reduced the level of destruction,” Muhammad recalled. “Their plea stayed with me.”
Frustrated by state failure, the lawmaker armed six wards in his constituency, putting the weapons under the custody of the Community Watch Corps (CWC) and ensuring locals received training.
“My intention is not to militarise the people; it is to give them a fighting chance until security personnel arrive,” he said.
But his intervention is more than an act of compassion; it is a serious indictment of a government that has abandoned its duty.
In a nation where citizens are left to defend themselves with stones while leaders boast of security reforms, the truth is undeniable: ordinary Nigerians are on their own.
The question now is not whether citizens can survive without government protection, but whether a government that leaves its people to fight terrorists with bare hands deserves to be called one at all.
