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- Cautions NYSC against deploying Corps members to Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara
From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
A former Chairman, Committee on Prosecution or Armed Banditry and Related Offences in Zamfara State, Sani Shinkafi, on Monday said armed banditry in the North West Nigeria has not ended because there is no sustainability in the fight against crime and criminality in the affected states.
Shinkafi who stated this while featuring on a national television breakfast show monitored in Kaduna also cautioned the leadership of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to stop deploying Corps members to Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States until the security situation in these three states improves.
About three weeks ago, eight Corps members who were traveling from Akwa Ibom State to Sokoto State for their one year mandatory service to the Country were abducted in Zamfara State.
According to Shinkafi, “sometimes, the Air Force will do hit and withdraw approach. When they attack a camp or hideout of bandits today, they will not go back until after three to 12 months.
“All the 14 local government areas in Zamfara State are under siege of armed bandits, headed by a kingpin which they called Kachala.
“MD Gusau led committee were able to identify all these hideouts and camps including their leaders and we handed over this report to state government, Air Force, and military.
“Again, proleferation of traditional leaders is also an issue in Zamfara. It is only in Zamfara State that we have 19 Emirs, about 300 District Heads and more than 1,000 village heads. Some of these traditional rulers were indicted for aiding and abetting armed banditry in our committee report.
“If the government is ready to fight this armed banditry, there must be a combined operation and interagency collaboration among these agencies”, he said.
He further added that illegal mining is contributing to insecurity in Zamfara State, noting that the past administration in the State suspended mining even by those that have the license in an attempt to stop the menace.
“But the bandits who are in their hideouts took advantage of the ban and took over these mining sites in collaboration with foreigners from Burkina Faso, Mali and Chard,” he added.
Reiterating the root cause of armed banditry in Zamfara State, Shinkafi traced it back to herders and farmers clashes which metamorphosed into cattle rustling and then advanced into kidnapping for ransom, killing, displacement of innocent people from their ancestral homes, rapes and armed robbery.
“Other causes include indiscriminate allocation of forest reserves, game reserves, cattle routes, high level of corruption in judiciary and security agencies, extortion of these Fulani by the traditional rulers, lack of border control which paved way for illegal immigrants.
“In a nutshell, banditry is a criminal enterprise where a lot of people come together to perpetrate the act with no ideology unlike ISWAP or Boko Haram,” he said.
