Attahiru Ahmad, Emir of Anka in Zamfara state, says more
than 100 miners operating between Anka and Maru LGAs in the state were abducted
by bandits on March 2.
Ahmad, chairman of the state council of chiefs, disclosed
this in Gusau, the Zamfara capital, on Tuesday when Lucky Irabor, chief of
defence staff (CDS), led service chiefs on an assessment visit to the state.
According to NAN, the emir explained that the incident took
place when the state was focused on the rescue of the 279 students abducted on
February 26, from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe.
The schoolgirls were released on March 2.
Ahmad also said the bandits killed 10 persons during an
invasion of a mining site in Zamfara.
“The bandits have been attacking those involved in artisanal
mining and carting away their money and property,” he said.
“There is a disconnect between miners and bandits in the
state, so we were surprised when the declaration of ‘no fly zone’ was recently
slammed on our state over suspected arms supply and illegal mining, when the
state does not even have an airport.
“We know that there are states with more security challenges
than Zamfara, and we expected that if such order would be issued, it should
also cover such states.
“Our artisanal miners, who are licensed, have been very
helpful to the state’s economic growth and they have played significant roles
in ameliorating the hardship faced by IDPs in the state by supporting them.”
The traditional ruler requested the deployment of more
security operatives to the state, and commended the peace initiative of the
Zamfara government.
“The peace and dialogue initiative of our governor has
become necessary because at the moment, we have less than 5,000 security men
fighting over 30,000 bandits,” he said.
He, therefore, called for synergy among security operatives
to ensure success in the fight against insecurity in Zamfara.
In his remarks, Irabor commended the traditional rulers for
their efforts, and urged them to continue to support the military’s operations
by engaging their subjects to provide credible information.
Earlier on Tuesday, Matawalle issued a two-month ultimatum
to bandits to surrender to the state government.
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