Banditry down by over 90 percent in Zamfara – CP

News Agency Of Nigeria

July 8, 2019 9:12 PM

The Zamfara State Commissioner of Police, Mr Usman Nagogo, has said that armed bandits’ activities have reduced by about 98 per cent following ongoing Peace and Reconciliation Initiative in the state.

Gov. Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State [Twitter/@Bellomatawalle)

The CP stated this at a press briefing on Monday in on the successes being recorded by the security in the fight against banditry in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state governor, Alhaji Bello Matawalle had recently in collaboration with the police set up the Peace and Reconciliation Initiative under the leadership of the Commissioner of Police to peacefully negotiate complete ceasefire by the bandits.

The CP said, the command had organised separate meetings with Fulanis, Hausas, members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) and various bandit groups before bringing them all together at an enlarged meeting chaired by the state governor.

”At the final and enlarged meeting, accusations and counter accusations were made, but the beauty of it all is that, at the end we all reached an understanding which led to the release of over 50 kidnap persons from both the bandits and the volunteers, known as ‘Yansakai.

”We plan to start disarmament of illegal weapons from the repentant bandits and Yansakai since the peace accord has now opened a new page.

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“One can see Fulanis going to markets freely which confirms that peace has been achieved unlike before, when the warring sides killed or maimed anyone from the opposite side of the divide,” the CP stated.

Nagogo who commended the participation of all stakeholders including security agencies in the peace pact, urged for the sustainability of the initiative.

News Agency Of Nigeria