Issue of banditry in Zamfara will end very soon —Gov Matawalle

Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle on Monday said that banditry in his state will not end very soon.

According to him, the attacks by bandits on innocent residents of various communities in the state will not end soon because some individuals are benefiting from them.

Matawalle stated this when he addressed State House correspondents on Monday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

He said, “I don’t think this issue of banditry will end very soon because already, some people are behind.

“Some people are using it and all they need is at least to show Nigerians that both the Federal and Zamfara State governments are not serious about 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.”

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He, meanwhile, assures that regardless of the efforts of the individuals behind banditry in the state that residents would begin to witness significant improvement in the security situation.

According to Governor Matawalle, Buhari is wading in to provide succour to the people and with the next 48 hours, things will begin to change.

He also frowned at some people he called political bandits as being responsible for fake reports on the number of affected persons in the recent attacks on some communities.

He denied reports claiming that up to 200 persons were killed in Bukuyyum and Anka local government areas of the state.

He said, “I have already cleared the air about the figures because I have seen some reports that 200 people, 300 people, 500 people were killed.

“I went to the community myself and with the [heads of] security agencies.

“First, we went to Bungudu and we confirmed from the emir that it was only 36 people that have been killed and two communities were razed by these bandits, and when we went to Anka.

“We met the emir, and he gave us a list of 22 people that have been killed, making a total number of 58 people killed. But as I’ve been saying, there are some political bandits who have been spreading lies, rumours so that they can achieve some political gain.”