Zamfara seeks military help over killings

[TGD]

 Fingers Fulani herdsmen from Niger, Mali in attacks

FACED with an upsurge in insecurity in some parts of Zamfara State, Governor Abdul'aziz Yari, has appealed to the military to help check the menace.

He also requested the deployment of police patrol helicopters in the state with a view to tracing the gunmen, who allegedly killed 23 residents last weekend.

The governor said investigation had shown that most of those engaged in the reprisal attacks were Fulani herdsmen from outside from Niger Republic, Mali and Central Africa Republic.

Yari told reporters yesterday at the Government House, Gusau, that he had reports from the affected community leaders and security agencies in Lingyado Village that the gunmen used motorcycles in their operations.

He said if helicopters were used for three weeks in the area, security operatives would be able to trace the hoodlums' hideouts in the Maru, Tsafe and Maradun local councils.

The governor said the reports indicated that the gunmen numbered over 100, which prompted the state to seek for the military assistance.

Yari confirmed that residents of the invaded community and the neighbouring villages had started fleeing their areas to Dansadau, the emirate capital and other towns in Maru Local Council for safety.

"I am thinking of the possibility of securing one or two helicopters from the Police Headquarters in Abuja for aerial surveillance with the view to detecting the hideouts of the bandits.

"We consider this as the only means of tracing these people. They have planned to carry out similar attacks in villages in Maru, Tsafe and Maradun councils of the state. Our concern is that whatever is being requested on our part by security agencies, we do release to them without any negotiation but our people always go to bed with fear of being attack by the gunmen," he said.

Yari said the insecurity situation is part of the reasons some state governors want state police. "We don't have control over the police and we cannot remove them if they fail to perform."

The governor declared his support for the establishment of state police as a means of finding lasting solution to the insecurity in the country.

Yari described the incessant attacks by bandits in Dansadau Emirate and other parts of the state as a setback for his administration and urged the security agencies to rise up to the challenge.

The governor believes that only a combined security operation team of the military and the police could stop the marauders.



The Guardian