Governor Abdulazeez Yari of Zamfara state has disclosed that in its efforts to the menace of armed banditry and cattle rustling his government has spent N15bn from since he assumed office in 2011.
This was even as he said the state government had procured and distributed 427 Hilux vans to the various security agencies in the state.
Speaking at a two-day retreat for Zamfara state royal fathers in Kaduna on Monday, the governor noted that in spite of this colossal amount as God might have it we are still battling with it.
According to him, apart from the effort put forward by his state, the federal government had deployed 700 troops to flush out the Armed bandits as well as 400 mobile police.
Represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Professor Abdullahi Shinkafi, the governor called on relevant stakeholders to put their hands on deck in trying to solve the security challenges confronting the state.
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He also appealed to the traditional rulers facilitate the establishment of National Directorate for Traditional council so that the issue of security matters should be jointly tackled by the states.
‘if you tackle the security matters in Zamfara state and Kaduna is not secured or Kano or Benue what have we done, he queried.
Earlier his remarks, Senator Kabir Marafa representing Zamfara Central senatorial district remarked that his recent remarks on the floor of the Senate regarding the security situation in the state was not personal but rather a call to duty.
He said ‘when these bandits started attacking and killing people, I drew the attention of my colleagues to the security challenges we are facing in the state.
‘My responsibility is to speak because almost on daily basis I received reports on these attacks. Even yesterday (Sunday) I received reports that the bandits attack a village and killed some people.
‘I never accused anybody. But I said the state government knows who are perpetrating these heinous crimes and they are doing nothing.
‘Nobody was prosecuted. I still stand by what I said and I still maintain if after this retreat, somebody comes up and said look Marafa what you said is not true, I will resign.
Also speaking, the lead paper presenter and chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum( ACF) ,Alh Ibrahim Coomasie who presented a paper titled, ‘Historical perspective of the role of traditional rulers in security affairs – pre-colonial, colonial postcolonial and present-day Northern Nigeria, tasked traditional rulers to revive the old system of information gathering about their domain right from ward heads to village heads and district heads to emirate.
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