Gov. Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara
State, has said the government will not apologize over the alleged killing of
villagers in the state during bombardment of suspected bandits camps in
Dumburum village in Zurmi Local Government Area of the state by Nigerian Air
Force.
The governor, who made the
statement when a 7-man investigation team on the matter visited him at his
Talata-Mafara private residence, said Dunburum village had served as hideout
for criminals over the last three years.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
reports that the state’s Council of Chiefs had a fortnight ago alleged that
innocent citizens were recently bombarded through air strikes in the area by
personnel of the Nigeria Air Force (NAF).
“As far as I am concerned and as
the head of government in the state, l haven’t seen anything wrong done by the
air force, l haven’t received any brief on such matter.
“Dumburum has been a criminal
hideout for over three years and the Emir of Zurmi has once asked me to go and
wipe out the area saying all those residing there were bandits, so l am
surprised that the emir will be part of those saying innocent people were killed
in an encounter in the area,” he said.
The governor who said some powers
were working against the state, maintained that “some people will stay in Abuja
and fabricate things against the operations in Zamfara in order to distract the
operation, this we must not allow.
“Please, all security agencies
especially the air force should continue with your usual constitutional duties
and the state government will give you all the support to facilitate your
concentration in trying to bring back peace which has eluded the state since
2007.
“You should continue with fire
power to show the criminals that there is a government in place and we won’t
negotiate with them again because when we did that in the past, the leaders
pretended as if all was well while they allowed their boys to continue to lay
siege on the communities.”
Handing over a letter of
condolence to the governor from the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique
Abubakar, the team leader, AVM Idi Lubo said it was part of the chief’s concern
in case the allegations were true.
He said, “the Chief of Air Staff
has directed us to properly investigate the matter in order to unravel the
truth.
“We have visited other
stakeholders and discovered that there was a misinformation which we have now
resolved and wish to assure the people of the state that we shall continue to
discharge our assigned responsibilities in protecting the innocent with
professionalism.”
The team, which was conducted
round by the Commander of 207 Quick Response Group, Squadron Leader Sunkanmi
Thomas, thanked all stakeholders for the support given to the Air operations in
the state.
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