Some people are negotiating with bandits without my knowledge – Zamfara Governor says as he decries police and military’s ‘frustrating’ attitude to banditry

Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal has alleged that some of his political foes are negotiating with bandits without his knowledge. 

Lawal who disclosed this during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, also lamented the” laid back” attitude of the police and the military in combating the menace of banditry plaguing the North-West state. 

“At a point, I had to really come and say it clearly because when we are trying to take care of the situation, somebody somewhere is negotiating with the bandits without my knowledge,” he lamented, adding that the series of negotiations with bandits by previous administrations did not yield any positive results and there was no basis to continue with such venture which, he said, enrich the vicious marauders. 

When asked whether he knows the identity of those negotiating with bandits, he said, “To some extent, we do.”

Speaking further, he said the uninspiring attitude of Federal Government-controlled security agencies was responsible for the creation of the state security outfit, Community Protection Guards in January. 

“We, as governors, don’t have control over the military, we don’t have control over the police as well as the civil defence. In most cases, we get frustrated,” the governor said. 

He said there are a lot of political undertones to the security issues in the state.

“Sometimes, when you’re really helpless. When you need them (security agents), they are not there. Even when they are there, they are given certain instructions on what to do and not what to do,” he said.

The governor said the marauding bandits whose kidnapping-for-ransom trade is booming in the state can be strangulated in two weeks with the right political will.

“In two weeks, we can take care of the situation but the political will is not there,” he said. 

“We know who they (bandits) are. We know where they live. It’s just that there is no political will.”

The governor said he has met with all the service chiefs and cried for help to save the state but the political will has been missing in the fight against bandits

““Zamfara State has become the hub of banditry in Nigeria. If you are able to take care of Zamfara today, you have solve more than 90% issues in northern Nigeria as a whole.”

Lawal said he has met with President Bola Tinubu to complain about the saboteurs to the security challenges in the state. He said the President has assured him that something would be done to address the challenges.