GOVERNOR Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State has been in the news for sometime now. His state has practically been on fire for much of his tenure since armed bandits, first in form of cattle rustlers and then illegal miners, got hold of the state. They have now graduated to kidnappers and full-blown bandits, killing and maiming people as they wish.
The sad news that emanated from Zamfara week in week out had caught the attention of the Federal Government at different instances and the administration had had to deploy military force to handle the situation.
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In recent weeks, however, the governor, who doubles as the chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), shocked the polity when he said that he was ready to quit his position as governor in place of a full scale state of emergency if that would guarantee peace.
The governor, again, last week, on a visit to the Presidential villa, reiterated the position when he said he was ready to quit as governor.
Hear him: “Yes, we are there as a government because it is the lives of people we are talking about. If there are no lives, we won’t be there. So, I did not make that statement out of politics, because the way some other people are looking at it politically, since my assuming office I have never taken insecurity as a political affair, but I look at it as criminality and I approach it in the way that it can be solved.
“Some other politicians have been calling for a state of emergency since three years ago. Then I said to myself, if a state of emergency would solve the problem then Yari is ready.”
“You are aware of what is happening in Zamfara State, and some parts of the neighbouring states on the issue of banditry, abduction and insurgency. So, it’s important that I come forward to brief Mr President on the situation on ground, which I just did.
“We sit down as the head of security in the state and all other stakeholders where we review the situation and come up with the report that we think will help the security agencies there through Mr President to strategise so that they can curb the problem.”
In February last year, Senator Kabiru Marafa, who represents Zamfara Central in the Senate and chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) had raised the alarm on the state of insecurity in that state. He accused some powers that be in the state of inactivity and painted a gory situation of the state.
He painted a gloomy picture when he told his colleagues that the bandits were well-known and that they stay on the mountains, identify their targets and send message for ransom. If the target refused, they would come to the city to kidnap and go scot-free. It could be that bad, he had said.
The senator said that 60 per cent of his constituency had fallen under the control of the bandits, adding, however, that the problem had been compounded by the state government’s “nonchalant attitude” towards securing the state.
He said: “73 people were killed in Benue State and we all saw how the Benue State government and the people gathered and convoked a summit where all the prominent sons and daughters of the state were gathered to address the issue.
“Mr President, more than 20 times that number had been killed in my constituency within the last four years but we have never received such type of attention. And the reason is very simple; it is because the state government is very antagonistic of anybody trying to bring the issue in Zamfara State to the front burner.”
According to him, the bandits in Zamfara walk freely in the state; wearing police and army uniforms, wielding guns.
Somehow, not many listened to the senator at the time. The talk appeared to have come from a political divide, as Marafa was seeking the governorship seat in the 2019 election.
But it appears that the governor has seen what Marafa saw in the morning at this late hour. Even at that, his call for a state of emergency that would sweep away the political structure at this stage looks very suspicious. The All Progressives Congress (APC) shot itself in the foot in Zamfara when it failed to meet the deadline given by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for party primaries and the commission shut the door on its candidates in the forthcoming election. Could Yari’s call to quit a strategy to keep the APC in contention in the state? That’s a question that would not go away; especially as we have seen the interpretation of state of emergency under the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, who ensured that the political structures were left intact in a state of emergency.
Why would Yari quit the state after enjoying most of his tenure of office? Is that not an indictment and a failure to offer good governance to the people who elected him governor? Rather than run away from the problem, assuming his call to quit was altruistic, he should join hands with the Federal Government and face the task of rescuing his people from the shackles of bandits.
Yes, the Federal Government can declare a state of emergency in Zamfara to end the killings and banditry, but the political structures must remain in place. The elections fixed for February 16 and March 2 should also be guaranteed to proceed without infractions. That will show the bandits there is a government in Nigeria. In 2015, the government in place ensured elections held peacefully across the country, despite huge threats of Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East.
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