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According photo report by legit.ng, it reads: “Hon. Femi Gbajabimila paid a visit to Zamfara state and met with bandits commanders, Yan Sakai on Monday, July 15.
See photos:
Meanwhile, The Coalition of Human Rights Groups has backed the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai for exposing those behind the unrest in the country.
Lt. Gen. Buratai had on May 2019, said embittered politicians, who were bent on destabilising the country were responsible for the rising activities of bandits.
He gave this assertion while hosting members of the 10-man Committee on Army of the House of Representatives, who were in Maiduguri on a two-day oversight function.
He said, “There are myriads of security challenges we are facing right now in the North-West, North-Central and other parts of the country. I want to believe, and rightly so, that with the fallout of the just-concluded general elections, there are politicians who saw their defeat as a means of revenge, sponsoring these criminal activities and even banditry and clashes between the farmers and herders.”
Speaking on the revelation, the human rights group warned those behind the serial acts of banditry, kidnapping and killings must desist from these evil acts and change their ways.
Maxwel Gowon (Esq), Executive Director of the group in a statement on Thursday, appealed to defeated political players in the last election to use legal proceedings in expressing dissatisfaction with election outcomes without resorting to bloodletting
Zamfara Bandits give conditions for ceasefire
Also, Bandits in Zamfara State have given conditions for laying down their arms.
One of the conditions is that extra-judicial killings of Fulani, especially in local markets, should be halted.
The bandits are also demanding that they be allowed to attend local markets without fear or intimidation.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Usman Nagoggo, disclosed this yesterday during a meeting with vigilantes and volunteers vigilantes and volunteers popularly known as Yan Sakai.
Nagoggo said authorities had recently reached out to the armed men and that they had assured that they would stop the carnage in the state only on conditions.
The CP said: “Part of the conditions they gave was that the Yan Sakai should halt the extra judicial killings of Fulani especially in local markets. The bandits said they should be allowed to attend local markets without fear or intimidation.
“That is why we are holding this meeting to intimate you about the new peace road map being designed by the government. In a situation whereby a local vigilante will kill one of the bandits and the armed men would slay about 30 persons in retaliation, what is the gain here?”
The CP urged the leaders of the vigilantes to reach out to their followers and ask them to stop unlawful executions of suspected criminals, adding that “it is part of what is fuelling the crises.”
In his reaction, the secretary of the Yan Sakai group in the state, Sani Babbar Doka, said: “In the peace pact that took place about three years ago, we surrendered our arms as demanded by the government, but the armed criminals did not. We are ready for anything that will ensure that peace returns to our communities, but not at the detriment of the opposing group,” he said.
Gov Masari Justifies Banditds, B/Haram Killings, Says normal For Developing Country
Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari weeks ago received a “Living Hero” award during which he described the myraid of security and socio-economic challenges plaguing Nigeria as normal but transient for a developing nation.
According to the governor, developed economies also had similar and even worse challenges before getting to their current stages of development.
Masari spoke at the Government House when a group, Citizens Rights and Leadership Awareness Initiative, presented him with the award in recognition of what they called the governor’s, “inspiring leadership qualities and advancement of quality education.”
According to Masari, “we are here for service delivery and whatever we do in the course of this assignment is what we are supposed to do.
“At this point in Nigeria, leadership is not easy because of the myraid of challenges of insecurity, lack of resources, conflicting interests and politics.
“They are challenges which every nation goes through as part of the processes of nation-building. If you go through history and look at what some other nations went through before they arrived at what they are today, you realise that they went through similar or even worse situations than we are currently going through.
“I believe that if Nigerians work together, we will come out of the present challenges.
“Nation-building is not about eight or four years, it is an endless journey but we hope that within the period and the time given to us by our creator, we will do the best we can, to improve the quality of lives of our people.
“Your recognition will spur us to do more as we move from 2019 to 2023 and beyond,” Masari said.
Presenting the award to the governor, the group’s Coordinator, Ambassador Oladipo Musibau, noted that Masari has since 2015 continued to dispense the dividends of democracy to the people of Katsina State, “and has done so in a manner that has tended to inspire others.”
According to him, “the Living Hero award is an initiative to motivate Nigerian icons who should be celebrated while alive instead of placing beautiful epitaphs on their tombs in death.”
