Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara has said that the state government is no longer interested in dialoguing with bandits as they rejected the olive branch stretched at them earlier.
He said in Gusau that instead, security forces would flush them out of the state.
“My administration will no longer grant amnesty to bandits as they have failed to embrace the peace initiative earlier extended to them,’’ the governor said while addressing a congregation.
He urged residents to be patient and to support new security measures put in place to flush out bandits and their collaborators to restore peace in the state.
The governor said the barrage of attacks on bandits by security forces had made them make a fresh overture to the government seeking dialogue.
He said the bandits’ emissaries informed him that they had repented and would want to dialogue with the government.
He noted that some of the bandits were running out of Zamfara to other states as a result of the new security measures introduced by the state government.
Matawalle warned politicians against giving any form of support to bandits, stressing that: “politicians should fear God and stop buying motorcycles to distribute to people who, in turn, sell to bandits to perpetrate their evil acts.’’
The governor said also that the Zamfara government would prosecute any politician caught in the act.
It would be recalled that Zamfara State had cut off food, petroleum products supply and other essential commodities from the reach of the bandits in their various camps.
The government had also intercepted several vehicles conveying food, drinks and petroleum products to various bandits’ camps in the state.
The government said earlier that it had also arrested more than 100 violators of Gov. Matawalle’s Executive Order to restore law and order in the state.
Matawalle had established the Special Taskforce to enforce measures to address the lingering security challenges of mass kidnapping for ransom and cattle rustling in the state.
NAN/Nnenna.O
