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Zamfara Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, has said government will not apologise over alleged killing of villagers during bombardment of suspected bandits camps in Dumburum village, in Zurmi Local Government Area of the state.
The governor said this when a seven-member investigation team on the matter visited him at his Talata-Mafara residence.
He said Dunburum village had served as hideout for criminals in the last three years.
The Council of Chiefs in the state had accused the Nigerian Air Force of bombing innocent citizens in the area.
But, Yari said this is untrue, insisting that the force only targeted bandits.
“As far as I am concerned, and, as the head of government in the state, l haven’t seen anything wrong done by the air force; l haven’t received any brief on such matters. Dumburum has been a criminal hideout for over three years and the Emir of Zurmi has once asked me to go and wipe out the area saying all those residing there were bandits, so l am surprised that the emir will be part of those saying innocent people were killed in an encounter in the area.”
The governor, who said some powers were working against the state, added that “some people will stay in Abuja and fabricate things against the operations in Zamfara in order to distract the operation, this we must not allow.
“Please, all security agencies, especially the air force, should continue with your usual constitutional duties and the state government will give you all the support to facilitate your concentration in trying to bring back peace which has eluded the state since 2007.
“You should continue with the firepower; to show the criminals there is a government in place and we won’t negotiate with them again, because, when we did that in the past, the leaders pretended as if all was well while they allowed their boys to continue to lay siege on the communities.”
Handing over a letter of condolence to the governor, from the Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, Idi Lubo, the team leader, he said it was part of the chief’s concern; in case the allegations were true.
“The chief of air staff has directed us to properly investigate the matter in order to unravel the truth,” he said.
“We have visited other stakeholders and discovered that there was misinformation which we have now resolved and wish to assure the people of the state that we shall continue to discharge our assigned responsibilities in protecting the innocent with professionalism.”
