Powerful individuals currently holding public office are actively backing and funding the bandits terrorising communities across the country, a former Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General Maharazu Tsiga (rtd), revealed yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference in Kaduna, Tsiga dropped the bombshell while reacting to the tragic death of Major-General Rabe Abubakar (rtd), who recently died while being held hostage by bandits in Katsina State.

Tsiga, who was himself abducted from his Katsina hometown earlier this year, described his time in the kidnappers` den as a horrific ordeal that exposed the deep-rooted political connections driving the underground criminal economy.

The retired general narrated a chilling firsthand encounter during his captivity, detailing how bandit leaders coordinate arms deals directly with active government officials.

"These people may have the backing of those in power," Tsiga stated. "I heard when someone called their leader at 2:00 a.m. and said, ‘Please, Kachala, are you ready to buy 10 cartons of ammunition?’"

In an attempt to fish out the identities of their high-profile collaborators, Tsiga said he jokingly asked the bandit leader to loop him into the lucrative arms trade once the phone call ended. The response he received was a stark validation of state complicity.

"He asked who I am. He said, `You are a retired general. You don’t have an office. We are talking to people who are in office now,`" Tsiga recounted.

The revelations have sparked fresh anxiety over the complicity of state actors in Nigeria`s lingering security crisis, as stakeholders demand a full-scale investigation into Tsiga`s disclosures.