Abdulaziz Yari, governor of
Zamfara state, says armed bandits have killed 3,526 persons in the state in the
last five years.
Yari spoke at a town hall meeting
in Gusau, the state capital, on Tuesday.
According to NAN, the meeting was
attended by Mohammed Adamu, inspector general of police (IGP), traditional and
community leaders, as well as herders and farmers.
Yari, who was represented by
Abdullahi Shinkafi, secretary to the state government (SSG), also said “nearly
500 villages” have been destroyed by the attackers.
He added that “over 13,000
hectares of farmlands were either destroyed or made useless as farmers can no
longer use the lands for farming”.
“Nearly 500 villages have also
been devastated and 8,219 persons were injured, some are still in critical
condition,” he said.
“The economy of the state has
seriously suffered because thousands of shops were destroyed by the rampaging
bandits who had displaced thousands of our people from their places of abode,
many of whom cannot sleep with their two eyes closed because of fear.”
Yari said the government had
written volumes of reports containing over 7,000 pages, giving details of the
crises right from the beginning to the “infiltration from Libya and Boko
Haram”.
He said the government was aware
of eight prominent bandits camps at different locations in the state.
The governor said recent
suspension of mining activities in the state by the federal government must “be
followed by enforcement, because, it is one thing to ban, and another to
enforce.”
Earlier, the IGP told the
gathering that the police would take more proactive measures in the fight
against bandits and commended the state government for providing “enabling
environment” to security personnel to operate in the state.
Last week, 50 persons, including
members of the civilian joint task force (CJTF), were reportedly killed in
Kaura Namoda local government area in a single day.
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