No More Mercy As Zamfara Govt Declares War On Bandits

The Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle has declared that his administration is determined to go all out in the war against banditry in the state.

This is as he revealed that the bandits are now seeking to negotiate with the government after suffering heavy casualties from military bombardments but the phase of mercy has passed.

The Governor who spoke while addressing residents of the state in Gusau, the state capital on Saturday further appealed to the people to bear with the government on the stringent security measures deployed to combat criminals in the state.

“My administration will no longer grant amnesty to bandits as they have failed to embrace the peace initiative earlier extended to them,’’ the governor asserted.

The governor explained further that the bandits sent representatives to them that they were ready to discuss and negotiate but he turned down the overtures as the time for such considerations was over.

Naija News recalls the federal government has ordered telecommunication providers to shut down their networks in Zamfara State.

It was gathered that the directive was given in a letter to all telecom operators on Friday, Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Danbatta stated that this was necessary to enable security agents to carry out operations against bandit terrorists in the state.

Similarly, the Zamfara State government had recently imposed new measured in the state to help in the fight against terrorists.

Some of those measures include the restriction of fuel sales, the suspension of all weekly markets across the state.

Others are the suspension of the transportation of livestock to and from the state, amongst others.

Speaking on Saturday, Matawalle revealed that the measures have started yielding results and since the military and security forces turned on the heat, some of the bandits were already fleeing Zamfara to hide in neighbouring states.

The Governor further cautioned politicians against giving any form of support to the bandits in the form of motorcycles.

“Politicians should fear God and stop buying motorcycles to distribute to people who, in turn, sell to bandits to perpetuate their evil acts,’’ Matawalle warned.