Senator asks President Buhari to declare state of emergency in Zamfara, says bandits killed 3,000 residents in two years

macfranc007 July 13, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Naija news 24/7 Jerrywright Ukwu

- About 3,000 persons were killed in Zamfara state by bandits in the last two years

- This was revealed by a former member of the National Assembly, Senator Sa’idu Dansadau

- He said the killings took place between June 2016 and June 2018

A former member of the National Assembly, Senator Sa’idu Dansadau, has revealed that 3,000 persons were killed in Zamfara state by bandits in the last two years.

Dansadau, 65, who is currently the national chairman of the National Rescue Movement, added that over N1.2 billion paid as ransom to secure the release of residents abducted during the period

He said this during a press briefing he held in the nation's capital, Abuja, on Thursday, July 12.

According to him, the killings took place between June 2016 and June 2018, adding that 682 villages and towns were sacked by the bandits causing residents to flee to neighbouring states of Katsina and Kebbi states.

He also said 2,706 farms were also destroyed, just as 13,838 cattle, and 11,088 sheep and goats were looted. He added that the bandits during the period under review stole motorcycles totalling 2,244.

He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to come to the aid of the residents of the state to bring the crisis to an end.

He however revealed that he arrived at the figures by multiplying the figures obtained from his area, Dansadau state constituency by 22 other constituencies affected by banditry.

He said of the 25 state constituencies in Zamfara, only three had not suffered from similar or worse losses occasioned by the activities of the bandits.

During the briefing, he provided documents containing the names and villages of people killed, names of people abducted and the ransom paid, as well the list of villages destroyed in Dansadau state constituency.

He then urged the Council of State to plead with President Buhari to declare an emergency rule in Zamfara state.

“Any remedial measure taken by the federal government short of declaring an emergency will not produce any positive result,” he said.

The former lawmaker said he’s aware of the Supreme Court judgment that said the president can’t remove elected governors and their deputies excerpt as provided in Sections 143 and 144 and Sections 188 and 189 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

“We are not requesting President Buhari to remove Abdulaziz Yari from office by declaring state of emergency but to suspend all elected public officers in the stare for six months to enable Major General Abubakar Maikobi, the Force Commander of Operation Whirl Stroke II with operational Headquarters in Gusau, Zamfara state, consult widely in executing the military operation which Governor Yari refused to do in spite of all entreaties from different quarters,” he said.

He said the inability of the police to safeguard the people of Zamfara may be linked to the “disconnect” between them and the governor “who is rarely in Zamfara to provide leadership as the chief security of the state.”

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Meanwhile, the Deputy Senate leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, on Tuesday, July 10, said the 30,000 police personnel deployed to Ekiti state for the July 14 governorship election was unacceptable.

Na’Allah, an APC senator from Kebbi state wondered why large number of policemen should be deployed for an election when the authorities could not deploy 10,000 policemen to secure the lives of people in Zamfara state, who have been attacked by bandits in recent times.

The senator, who was speaking while leading the debate on his bill that sought to repeal the Police Act and re-enact the Police Reform, said such action was not part of the APC manifesto.

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