Banditry: Nigeria’s President Orders NSA To Give ‘Special Focus’ To Zamfara
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered for an immediate response to rising cases of bandit attacks on communities in Zamfara State.
In a directive to the National Security Adviser, Major-General Babagana Monguno (Rtd), the president ordered that there must be a clear pathway to ending the resurgent banditry that has continued to cost lives and the displacement of thousands of families from their towns and villages.
The Speaker of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, Hon. Nasir Magarya, wrote a letter in which he appealed to the president to intervene and stop the incessant killings by bandits in the State.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said in a statement on Thursday that a meeting is soon to take place that will deliberate on security and the issue of illegal mining which is fueling the crisis in Zamfara state.
In addition to the NSA, the convener, the meeting will be attended by Major-General Bashir Magashi (Rtd), Ogbeni Ra’uf Aregbesola and Architect Olamilekan Adegbite, Ministers of Defence, Interior, and Mines and Steel respectively.
Also to attend the meeting are the Directors-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, and the National Intelligence Agency, NIA.
The statement further explained that beyond banditry and cattle rustling, “the scale of lawlessness has been aggravated by illegal miners who are harvesting resources they have no legal rights to exploit.”
