Insecurity in Zamfara can be resolved in two weeks if …

Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State has blamed the insecurity in the state on lack of political will to confront the perpetrators.

“We do, we know who they are, we know where they live, it is just that there is no political will,” Mr Lawal said while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday. “Let me say this categorically, if we are committed, if we are serious, you can take care of this situation in two weeks maximum. I’m telling you, in two weeks you can take care of this situation, but the political will is not there.”

In recent years, Zamfara State has witnessed an increase in attacks by gunmen locally known as bandits carrying out cattle rustling, mass kidnapping, and killings.

These attacks have led to the destruction of lives and properties and violation of human rights. Many people and survivors have been displaced from their communities to seek safety elsewhere.

In November last year, terrorists operating in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State abducted more than 100 residents in separate but coordinated attacks in several villages over the failure of the villagers to pay a N110 million protection levy.

In March this year, at least 11 people were killed, and 20 others abducted when bandits attacked the Gidan Zuma community in Bungudu Local Government Area of the state on a Sunday.

Just last month, Bello Hassan, who represents the Zurmi/Shinkafa Federal Constituency of Zamfara State at the House of Representatives, narrated how terrorists sacked about 50 communities and abducted hundreds of residents after weeks of incessant attacks in Zurmi Local Government Area of the state.

The activities of these criminals have caused untold hardship to the people of Zamfara.

‘Political undertone’

Mr Lawal, who described his state as home of banditry in northern Nigeria, maintained that the security situation in the state has “a lot of political undertones”, making it difficult to deal with decisively.

He did not give details of how politics is possibly influencing response to the insecurity problem in the state.

However, security in the state, like many other northern states and other parts of Nigeria, has continuously deteriorated under successive governments led by the major political parties in the country at both the federal and state levels.

Mr Lawal, who is of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the major opposition party at the federal level, took over as governor in May last year from Bello Matawalle, who belonged to the governing All Progressives Congress (APC). The tenure of Mr Matawalle, who is now serving as Minister of State for Defence in the APC-led federal government, saw the insecurity in the state worsen within its four years. The APC has been in control of the federal government since 2015, first under then-President Muhammadu Buhari for eight years, and President Bola Tinubu in the last one year.

Governors’ limited powers

Governor Lawal also blamed the problem on limited powers of governors in security matters.

“Well, I will say that it is something that you know clearly that, we as governors, don’t have control over the military, we don’t have control over the police as well as the civil defence. In most cases you get frustrated in terms of where do you get help from?,” the governor said.

“When you need these people,” referring to the security agencies, Mr Lawal said, “they will be nowhere to be found.”

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES in May, Mr Lawal said to address this gap, he met with President Tinubu “for him to come up with a system and do whatever it takes to make sure these guys are flushed out if we can do this thing holistically.”

Shedding more light on his meeting with Mr Tinubu, the governor spoke on Tuesday of how Zamfara is key to achieving peace and stability in the northern states.

“I had to explain everything to him, what we are going through and what needs to be done because Zamfara state has become the home of banditry in Nigeria or in Northern Nigeria. If you are able to take care of Zamfara today, believe me you have solved more than 90 percent of the banditry issue in northern Nigeria as a whole,” the governor said.

Alternative security outfit

He said since the state cannot guarantee the availability of the federal government-controlled security agencies, “therefore the best thing to do, is to set up that kind of security outfit.”

“As a matter of fact we have all these Special Forces sent to Zamfara with all the latest technology and everything,” he said, adding that the issue with the alternative solution “is we also have limitation” because the security outfits were told not to cross certain lines.

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He said the security outfits are made up of indigenes of the state who best know the state and its challenges. “We recruited over 2540 across 14 local governments because they understand the trend and they know the people,” the governor said.

He spoke glowingly of the impact the security outfit is making in the state.

“They are doing very well as we speak, honestly for us in Zamfara, they are doing exceptionally well,” he said.