Gov. Bello Matawalle expressed his displeasure on Wednesday, April 13, with the creeping reappearance of banditry and kidnapping in sections of Zamfara.
Matawalle had noticed the steady return of bandits and kidnappers to the state, according to Malam Zailani Bappa, the governor’s Special Adviser on Public Enlightenment, Media, and Communications, who stated in Gusau.
“Strong facts indicate that the recurrence of banditry in the state is aided and abetted mostly by powerful indigenes.
“Some of these people are strong personalities who the people respect.
“There are also, among the generality of the people who receive paltry sums of money to serve as informants to bandits,’’ Bappa quoted Matawalle as saying.
He added that it was based on suspicion that the governor directed those taking political appointments to swear by the Holy Quran while taking oath office.
“That is why sometimes back, I swore with the Holy Quran and asked all those in my administration to do the same, distancing ourselves from acts of banditry.
“I also called on all opinion and political leaders in the state to do the same and they did,’’ the governor was quoted to have also said.
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He noted that some top politicians in the state declined to use the Holy Quran, just as some refused to swear by the Book.
Matawalle also noted that swearing by the Holy Quran remained the only way to distance oneself from banditry and kidnapping.
“We are not going to rest on our oars and watch the situation go from bad to worse,’’ he said.
Matawalle explained that in spite of multiple challenges, government and security forces had been able to reduce banditry and kidnapping.
He said his administration was concerned about the rate at which criminals were launching a return to the state.
The governor assured that the security forces were employing new strategies to contain the trend.
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