Zamfara State Governor, Bello Muhammad Matawalle has said that Federal and some state governments are quietly investigating those he called “politicians” who have been fueling banditry and other forms of insecurity and their names will be made public.
Answering Reporters’ questions today, January 17 shortly after a private audience with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential villa, Abuja, Governor Matawalle regretted that while the governments are trying to end the insecurity, these “political bandits” are thwarting such efforts.
“We know the people that are pushing them (bandits) to do so and we are going to push them out and I assure you that they will be fished out and we will deal with them accordingly.
“As I have been saying, there are some political bandits who have been spreading lies, rumors so that they can achieve some political gain.”
The governor said that such political bandits have sworn with Holy Qur’an that thousands of people have been killed which is grossly misleading “but we know all those kind of people do not want peace in the nation but God will prevail inshallah.
“Like I said, we are still investigating those that are involved in these activities. And we will make the public to know them after the confirmation of the reality of all the information that we have at hand. Because, we are working to make sure that all those who have hand in this insecurity must be brought to justice.
“Therefore, once the investigation is concluded, we will inform the public of the result of the investigation of what the security is doing about it.”
Governor Bello Matawalle, who confirmed that the total number of people killed by bandits in recent attacks were 58 and not over 200 as media carried it, recalled that when he assumed duty as a governor: “I used so many options to bring this insecurity to a minimal level.
“First of all, I initiated dialogue and reconciliation between the herders and farmers and during that dialogue, we spent more than nine months without any crisis in Zamfara State. It worked.
“But unfortunately, people used politics, because they have collaborators, of course.
“So, they went back to those bandits telling them that the government is not serious about this dialogue; that we did not give them anything. So the bandits decided to go back to their normal businesses.
“That’s why I backed out from the reconciliation Programme. But definitely, it worked for over nine months. But because this is something that I inherited, that has been going on for almost eight years, and you don’t expect it to end within just two years of my administration. It is supposed to be ongoing process.
“So, after I realized that some of them had backed out of this dialogue, then I cut off the programme. I then initiated the cutting off communications, and some logistics that used to go to the bandits from August 2011 to December 2011. And it worked too.
“But sometimes those collaborators who are usually happy with what is happening; who would even jubilate if people are being kille, they went back and started again, saying that the government is not serious. And instigating some of the public. In fact, they even dragged me to court.
“So you see the kind of people who we have in Zamfara State?
“I don’t think this issue of banditry will end very soon because, already some people are behind it. Some people are using it and all they want is at least to show Nigerians that both the federal and Zamfara state governments are not serious on the issue of insecurity, despite the fact that some of them are involved in the crisis of this insecurity. But we’re doing our best.”
Question: have you identified those calibrators and, what are you going to do with them. Over the weekend, some people from Nahuche village protested at the government house that they have paid bandits N200 million and yet it’s not abetting?
Answer by the Governor:
It is not true. As I said, they have collaborators and we are working to fish out those collaborators and the law will take it course. It’s wrong for the whole people of Nahuche to say government gave N200 million to the bandits. How can you believe that? Your Chairman is from Zamfara State, he is from Chafe local government area. He can testify to that.
So we know that people are just saying that in order to blackmail the government and the security agencies. But it is not true.
