Omolosho Fatai & Adebayo Fajinmi
Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, has said his government is working to fish out those collaborating with terrorists in the state.
Matawalle stated this in an interview with newsmen following a meeting he had with the President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday.
“We are still investigating those that are involved in these activities, and we’ll make the public know 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 a hand in this insecurity must be brought to justice.
“Therefore, once the investigation is concluded, we’ll inform the public of the result of the investigation of what the security is doing about it,” he said.
He stated that banditry may not come to an end anytime soon in the state because of the people sponsoring it.
Matawalle who visited the scenes of the attacks, noted that “just 58” casualties were recorded in the recent attacks in Anka and Bukkuyum Local Government Areas of the state, and not 200.
“Yes, I have already cleared the air about the figures because I have seen some reports that 200 people, 300 people, 500 people were killed. But I went to the community by myself and the security agencies.
“First, we went to Bungudu and we confirmed from the Emir that it was only 36 people that had been killed and these bandits razed two communities. And when we went to Anka, we met the Emir, at the time we met him, he gave us a list of 22 people that had been killed, making a total of 58 people killed,’’ he added.
He chided those he referred to as “political bandits” for publicising unverified figure.
In 2021, Governor Matawalle said some persons working with bandits have confessed that they are being sponsored by politicians.
The governor, who said this in an interview with Lagos-based RadioNow, did not disclose identities of the politicians exposed by the bandits.
He also spoke on how some key political figures worked against the amnesty programme of his administration.
“After we initiated the dialogue, you know it was supposed to be a collective effort — between the government, the people of the state and other political gladiators. Unfortunately, when the government is trying to make sure we have peace, some political elites are thinking they don’t want us to succeed,” he said.
