₦airaland Forum

Katsina Lawmaker, LG Chairman Seen Negotiating With Terrorists As 37 Abducted Victims Regain Freedom

Gunmen have released 37 residents of Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State who were abducted days before a local "peace deal" was reached.

The victims were handed over on Friday in a tense exchange led by the Member representing Bakori Constituency at the Katsina State House of Assembly, Hon. AbdulRahman Ahmad Kandarawa, alongside the Chairman of Bakori LGA.

Images and eyewitness accounts show government officials in the company of armed men during the handover.

Some of the released victims were seen sitting on the ground, while several officials stood alongside the armed group.

The handover was facilitated by a peace intermediary, Isya Kwashen Garwa, who reportedly brokered the latest deal between local authorities and the gunmen operating around Bakori and neighbouring communities.

SaharaReporters gathered that the release followed days of behind-the-scenes talks aimed at preventing further attacks in the area, where residents have endured repeated raids, killings, and mass abductions.

Neither the state government nor security agencies has issued an official statement on the circumstances surrounding the negotiation, raising questions about transparency, accountability, and the broader implications of negotiating directly with terrorists groups.

Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun says more than 11,000 officers assigned to protect Very Important Persons (VIPs) have been withdrawn and redeployed to strengthen frontline policing across the country.

Egbetokun announced the development on Thursday during a meeting with senior police commanders in Abuja, where he explained that the directive—issued earlier by President Bola Tinubu—was a strategic move to bolster public safety, especially in vulnerable communities.

According to the police chief, the withdrawal was informed by operational realities, not sentiment, and reflects the force’s renewed focus on its primary responsibility to citizens and communities.

“In line with the President’s directive, we have withdrawn a total of 11,566 personnel from VIP protection. These officers are being redeployed to critical policing duties immediately,” he said.

He said the redeployed personnel would boost manpower for rural and urban security operations, enhance patrol visibility, support intelligence-led policing, and improve rapid response to emerging threats.

Egbetokun added that the withdrawal exercise would be handled with caution to prevent impersonation, misinformation, or exploitation by criminal elements, noting that detailed operational guidelines would be issued soon.

“The withdrawal is not a retreat from responsibility, but a reclamation of it,” he said.

The IGP referenced recent security incidents—including abductions in Kwara, Kebbi, and Niger states—as reminders of the need to reposition the force for increased deterrence and public confidence. While commending officers for swift responses to the attacks, he acknowledged criticisms about the police’s effectiveness.

“We may not be doing enough, but it is not that we are not working. We are actually doing something. But as leaders, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard,” he said.

Egbetokun highlighted recent operational gains, disclosing that 8,202 suspects had been arrested for various offences in the last few weeks, while 232 kidnapped victims were rescued.

He provided a breakdown of the arrests, including 451 armed robbery suspects, 356 kidnapping suspects, 534 murder suspects, 129 culpable homicide suspects, 173 suspects for unlawful possession of firearms, 312 rape suspects, and 282 suspected cultists. An additional 6,094 individuals were arrested for other serious crimes.

Recovered items included 249 firearms, nearly 21,000 rounds of ammunition, and 238 vehicles.

The police, he said, are now leaning more heavily on intelligence-driven operations, expanded community engagement, and improved inter-agency collaboration.

With the festive season approaching—which typically marks the highest travel volume in the year—Egbetokun directed all state commands to commence enhanced patrols, highway domination operations, and community-focused policing initiatives. He also encouraged the use of technology, including drones and AI-enabled surveillance tools.

“Citizens returning home to celebrate with family and communities will be on the roads, and criminals will seek opportunities to exploit them. The roads must be decisively dominated by proactive policing and preparedness,” he said.

He ordered the activation of comprehensive festive deployment plans, including reinforced highway patrols, foot patrols at motor parks, intelligence-backed vehicular patrols of rural corridors, anti-robbery dragnets, and joint operations with other security agencies.

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8. Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 - 1.55 million

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The Federal Government must come clean with Nigerians.

The quiet appointment of Xpress Payments Solutions Limited as a new TSA collecting agent is not an administrative decision, it is a dangerous resurrection of the Alpha Beta revenue cartel that dominated Lagos State during and after the Tinubu years. That model created a private toll gate around public revenue and funnelled state funds into the hands of a politically connected monopoly.

What we are witnessing now is the attempt to nationalise that same template, moving Nigeria from a republic to a private holding company controlled by a small circle of vested interests.

To introduce such a policy in the middle of a national tragedy, while Nigerians are mourning loved ones lost to the deepening insecurity crisis, is not only insensitive, it is a deliberate act of governance by stealth. When a nation is grieving, leadership should show empathy and focus on securing lives, not on expanding private revenue pipelines.

This latest move raises fundamental questions:

Why was this appointment rushed and smuggled into the public space without consultation, stakeholder engagement, or National Assembly oversight?

What value does Xpress Payments add that existing TSA channels do not already provide?

Who truly benefits from this? Nigeria or an entrenched political network?

This is not reform. This is state capture masquerading as digital innovation.

Let me be clear:

Nigeria does not need more middlemen between citizens and their government revenue. What we need is greater transparency, stronger institutions, and a tax system free from political capture.

I therefore call for the following:

1. Immediate suspension of the Xpress Payments appointment pending a public inquiry;

2. Full disclosure of the contractual terms, beneficiaries, fee structures, and selection criteria;

3. A comprehensive audit of TSA operations to prevent the creeping privatisation of revenue collection;

4. A legal framework, not executive shortcuts, that prohibits the insertion of private proxies into core government revenue systems;

5. A national security priority shift, recognising that a country under assault cannot afford economic governance conducted in the shadows.

Nigeria’s revenues are not political spoils. They are the lifeblood of our national survival, especially at a time when insecurity is tearing communities apart.

The government must abandon this Lagos-style revenue cartelisation and return to the path of transparency, constitutionalism, and public accountability. -AA

‘Tinubu's government is sitting back, not doing enough,' US Congressman Bill Huizenga fights back tears over killings in Nigeria.

“I went to school with kids from Nigeria”. #CTVTweets pic.twitter.com/z2X4nZ5K0l

— Channels Television (@channelstv) November 20, 2025

‘Tinubu's government is sitting back, not doing enough,' US Congressman Bill Huizenga fights back tears over killings in Nigeria.

“I went to school with kids from Nigeria”. #CTVTweets pic.twitter.com/z2X4nZ5K0l

— Channels Television (@channelstv) November 20, 2025