Over 420 hostages freed from bandits without ransom –Matawalle

Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, New York

Governor of Zamfara State, Dr.  Bello Matawalle, yesterday, said his administration freed over 420 hostages without paying ransom to bandits that abducted them.

The governor who spoke to journalists in New York, USA on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), explained that his policy of dealing directly with bandits had yielded results as the state now ranked among the most peaceful in the country.

“Before I came, there were a lot of people in captivity. Some had spent about seven months, including foreigners from Koreans, Nigeriens, Ghanaians, but along the line,  I have secured their release without paying any ransom, and without any conditions.

“When I took over, I met a lot of challenges which made me to study the scenario carefully. I invited all stakeholders to a meeting to hear from both Fulanis and the Yan Sake, that is the vigilante group.

“I saw that it was very important for government to be fully involved in dialogue, and we have to be sincere in the dialogue. We have done that and we have achieved what we needed recording a lot of successes both from the vigilante group and the Fulani group,” said the governor.

On the specific number of hostages freed since he came on board, the governor said: “We have freed about 420 without ransom. We have already started disarmament and we have received a lot of sophisticated weapons in the possession of the Commissioner of Police and other agencies.

“Yesterday (Tuesday), we had another set of people that were freed, about 30 of them; 15 men and 15 women. One of the women taken four months into her pregnancy has delivered.

We have recorded a lot of success and we are going to continue. We have to make sure we secure our people and our boundaries,” Mutawalle said.

Mutawalle said other governor facing similar challenges should adopt dialogue as a measure to ending the menace.

The governor said his visit to the United States was to attract investors into the agriculture and mining industries.

“You know my state, Zamfara is blessed with abundant mineral resources and agriculture. So, am here to showcase what we have to other investors. And we have started talking to most of these investors,  some of them have shown interest to go into agriculture and mining.”