Whatever might have fuelled banditry in Zamfara State, whether it is poverty, illegal mining or government’s inability to manage farmers/herders crises, the state has become a Golgotha due to the frequent attacks by rapacious bandits.
The state is always in the news for bad reasons. The abduction and imposition of taxes by bandits is no longer news. These audacious bandits have resorted to mass kidnapping. Evidence is the recent abduction of over 100 villagers in well-coordinated attacks.
The bandits attack, kill and steal anything they can lay their hands on, from the poor and helpless peasant farmers in porous communities of the state. Going down memory lane, when the late General Sani Abacha’s military government created the state in 1996, it envisioned a peaceful and prosperous state. Regrettably, 27 years after its creation, the state is not at par with its contemporaries in terms of economic development. Zamfara has the highest level of poverty and illiteracy.
Zamfara State is blessed with people of timber and calibre who have carved a niche for themselves in various aspects of human development. In the military, the state produced General Aliyu Gusau (Rtd). Ali Gusau was one of the finest and intelligent military officers the country has ever produced.
The state is also home to Colonel Bala Mande (Rtd), Senator Saidu Dansadau, Senator Sahabi Anka, Kabiru Marafa, Abdulaziz Yari, Mahmuda Aliyu Shinkafi, to mention but a few. With these strong pillars or personalities, one must have expected united and conscious efforts by them towards bringing lasting peace in the troubled state. Alas, this has never been the case. Rather they concentrated more on how they could acquire political power.
In 2019, there was an intense power play between the camp of former governor of the state, Abdulaziz Yari and Senator Kabiru Marafa. The fierce battle between the duo led the ruling party to lose all the seats through court litigations.
Governor Bello Matawalle, who became governor through the court, had at the tail end of his tenure a frosty relationship with his deputy, Mahdi Aliyu Gusau, over his defection to APC. Their feud lingered on till the general elections in which Matawalle lost.
These political intrigues and desperation to grab power were done at the altar of banditry which ravages the state. Even after Governor Bello Matawalle lost the gubernatorial election and President Tinubu had appointed him as a state minister of Defence, the state knew no peace. One had expected the ex-governor to concede defeat, bury his political differences and work with his successor to address the challenges of insecurity in the state.
With the appeal court ruling quashing the victory of Governor Dauda Dare and ordering for a re-run election in three local government areas, another chapter of the dirties political struggle has been opened.
It worries every right-thinking mind the deepening silence and lacklustre attitude displayed by the elite when the state faces an existential threat from blood-thirsty bandits.
Zamfara is dangerously drifting into an abyss. It is high time the political class stopped politicizing insecurity and embraced various options available to checkmate the persistent attacks by bandits in the state. The political class should close their ranks and work collectively for the return of peace and progress to the state.
Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua, Kaduna State
