Zamfara State Governor, Muhammed Matawalle has appealed to all Northern leaders to wake up from their lethargy and unite in combating banditry that has bedeviled the region.
He made the appeal while presenting a paper at the inauguration of the new executives of Arewa Media Writers Association in Kaduna.
According to him, unless all those concerned wake up to the situation, the war against banditry in the Northwest will remain a significant security challenge which has the potential to swallow the region and the Country as well.
Represented by the State Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Ibrahim Magaji, the Governor said, the destruction that banditry is wreaking on the region’s people and economy is unfathomable.
“We need to get to the roots of the situation, stop politicising it and act decisively”, he stressed.
“It is evident that we the leaders are responsible for the plight of the North. The North lacks responsible leadership to steer it through our time’s uncharted waters… We have all seen how the elites in the south-east and southwest respond in unison to all matters concerning their regions’ development”.
“We have seen how they have a defined agenda and are relentless in their pursuit of regional development” he added.
Governor Matawalle mentioned that, his experience over the past two years has shown that the major challenges to peace efforts are reluctance by the affected states to embrace peace dialogue, which would have deprived the recalcitrant bandits currently tormenting people of safe corridors in the region;
He decried lack of support from a section of politicians that wish to take advantage of the situation to achieve political ends.
Nnenna.O
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