Group tasks president Buhari on insecurity in Zamfara

As tension continues to engulf the country, particularly Zamfara State, a group, under the aegis of the Patriots for the Advancement Of Peace and Social Development (PAPs), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order security agencies to arrest, investigate and possibly prosecute members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who are beating the drums of war in the state.

In a release yesterday, in Abuja by its Chairman, Dr. Sani Abdulahi Shinkafi, the group said the call has become necessary following the unguarded and provocative statements made by factional members of the APC loyal to former Zamfara Governor Abdulazeez Yari.

Shinkafi noted that since the inception of Governor Bello Matawalle-led administration, he had declared a ceasefire and amnesty to all armed bandits and cattle rustlers in Zamfara, which had brought relative peace to the otherwise restive state.

According to him, intelligence reports available to the group have uncovered plots by some factional members of the APC in the state to breach existing peace restored by the administration, who had initiated armistice with the armed bandits for the past one year. 

He also alleged that members of the APC loyal to the former governor were caught on tape threatening to take the laws into their own hands and incite people against the state government.

Shinkafi said: “The findings by the government’s intelligence reports and security agencies indicate that the factional leadership of the APC in the state was inciting some repented armed bandits to denounce the peace accord signed with the Zamfara State Government and cause mayhem. 

“This is not the first time that the enemies of the state would be attempting to cause crisis, as it would be recalled that a few weeks ago, a former member of the House of Representatives sponsored hoodlums in Bakura during the APC House of Assembly by-election primaries which led to the destruction of properties worth millions of naira and many innocent citizens were injured.”