By Hussaina Sufyan Ahmed
Kano is one of the states that records fewer security challenges in the northwestern part of Nigeria. The relative security in the state is an indication that not all northern states experience insecurity like the current happenings of kidnapping, banditry and armed robbery, as seen in Kaduna, Zamfara and Katsina. However, this calm is coming to an end considering the most recent menace of stabbings in the state.
Recently, people have been victims of phone snatching in Kano. This has become general mayhem in the state in that people do not take out their gadgets when going out on night strolls, and for some students, no more night out strolls anymore.
This problem is gradually becoming a national one. Families continue to bereave as their loved ones are brought to their end in their pool of blood due shed by snatchers of phones, laptops, wallets and other portable valuables.
According to the Daily Post, on July 4, 2021, an event occurred at the bridge undergoing construction close to Kantin Kwari market. The phone snatching brought about the death of a man called Umar Muhammad, staff at the National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
The most recent victim was Muhammad Sulaiman, a newly-wed schoolteacher stabbed to death in front of his wife around the Sharada industrial area on September 20, 2021.
These happenings continue to occur despite the various safety measure of the government, such as Karota agents, vigilante groups, others. Thus, people wonder what these security personnel do daily.
Phone snatching is usually carried out at night and around isolated pathways. In rare cases, it happens in broad daylight. The crimes occur in places like under the bridges, lone paths that lead out of POS points, ATM stations, children parks, corners of streets and even on roads without lamp-lights.
For the above reasons, security experts suggest some preventive measures that include:
When walking, stay very conscious of who is trailing you and of the environment around you. During this period, one needs to be very aware of who is behind, beside or ahead of them. Often, when at a crowded place, crime culprits hardly succeed or they get apprehended for it.
Another precautionary measure is to have an alternative phone which is very cheap and look simple.
