Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawale says a new approach would be applied towards finding a lasting solution to the insecurity problem troubling the State.
Matawale gave the assurance on Monday, while speaking to State House Correspondents, after holding a private meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said: “Whenever I initiate an action, I usually inform the President and I have been getting support from him. So now I have come up with another solution and I have informed him but cannot disclose the details because details about security issues are not made public.
“But I assure the people of Zamfara that they will see changes very soon because the President is committed to finding a solution to this problem of insecurity and I assure my people that we have all it takes to fight these people.
“The President has motivated me and when I go back to Zamfara, I assure you, the people will see changes between now and Wednesday because I know what we discussed and I know what is going to happen within this period and my people will be happy with the action that the federal government is going to take on this issue of insecurity very soon.”
He said the State government is doing its best to unravel those collaborating with bandits and other criminals to cause mayhem in the State.
“They have collaborators and we are working hard to fish out those collaborators and the law will take its course. We those who are pushing them to do so and we are going to fish them out and I assure you they will be fished out and we will deal with them accordingly,” he stressed.
On the recent killings in the State, where some insinuated that over 200 people were killed, the Governor emphasized that not more than 58 people were killed.
“I have already cleared the air about the figures. Because I have seen some reports that 200 People, 300 People, 500 People were killed. But I went to the community by myself and the security agencies. First we went to Bungudu and we confirmed from the Emir that it was only 36 People that were killed and two communities were razed by these bandits.
“And when we went to Anka, we met the Emir, at the time we met him, and he gave us a list of 22 people that were killed making the total number of 58 people killed. But as I’ve been saying there are some political bandits who have been spreading lies, rumours so that they can achieve some political gains.
“But actually it is 58 people that have been killed. But some people will just go to social media and be writing some figures and I have informed Mr. President of some people who think that with this insecurity they can achieve something out of it. Because I wonder how people will just be writing figures without having genuine information from those communities. Someone will just call a media personnel and tell him that look so many people have been killed in such a place,” the Governor explained.
Matawale said he was in the State House to brief President Buhari on the security situation in the State.
“In Tsafe local government, they had a similar problem but not as much as Bungudu and Anka. So I briefed Mr. President on what happened and the next action that we should take and the government is doing everything possible to make sure that we bring sanity in the State. Ahamdullahi, all the action that we have taken, we have recorded successes within just three days. And you will bear me witness after that attack, there has not been any report of any banditry activities in the state until today,” he said.
