The incessant killings and kidnap of farmers by bandits in communities across five local government areas of Kaduna State, has promoted them to protest with a threat to carry guns so as to access their farmlands.
The farmers who made their intention known on Saturday, complained that their members could no longer access their farmlands due to activities of bandits terrorising the state.
They however, vowed that if the security challenges persisted in the areas without a solution, they might be forced to take arms against their attackers.
The farmers’ groups cutting across Kajuru, Mararaban Rido, Kachia, Kargoro, Kawo and Zaria, in a statement by their chairman, Ibrahim Mustapha, said that bandits had caged them and prevented them from going to their farms.
The statement came after the farmers had spent eight days at home without access to their farms due to insecurity, just as it pointed out that since 2015 when bandits spread across the state, they had not been able to go to their farms as they would love to.
Offered the statement: “Since 2015, when bandits took over Kaduna and its environs, we have been afraid of going to the farm.
“They have kidnapped many of our people and we have paid huge amounts as ransom. Some have been killed, while those who managed to pay the ransom have remained in abject poverty till now”.
The farmers’ leader ultimately pleaded with security agencies in the state to intensify efforts at combating criminal activities of the bandits terrorising the state.
