Former Governor of Sokoto state, Attahiru Bafarawa, has narrated how bandits made him abandon his 10,000 hectares of land in Kaduna State.

Commenting on the high cost of foodstuff in the country on Monday, April 29, the former Governor said the people of Bafarawa, a district under Isa local government area in the eastern part of Sokoto state, usually seek permission from bandits before going to farm.

Bafarawa also said bandits are the ones who decide which farm to cultivate or not in his community. He said;

“I used to have a farmland which is over 10,000 hectares in Birni Gwari of Kaduna State. I have been cultivating that land since 1979 but I cannot reach there now because of the bandits.

“The maize I produced that time is in commercial quantity that, I used part of it for my flour mill which is also out of production. The issue of insecurity is behind the high cost of food items because many farmers have been displaced.

“There was a time I warned the federal government about the impending food insecurity in the country but my advice was ignored.”

Bafarawa also called for genuine collaborative efforts between the federal government, state and local government to tackle insecurity, particularly in the north, adding that leaders should wake up before it is too late to save the situation.