Governor Yari meets Buhari, says banditry won’t affect election

After a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State has said that the lingering cases of armed banditry in the state won’t affect the forthcoming election.

Daily Trust online reports that the meeting held at the President’s office at the Villa, lasted for about an hour.

Speaking to State House Correspondents after the meeting, Yari, who had threw his weight behind the declaration of emergency in Zamfara state, said the armed bandits were not occupying any territory in the state.

Yari, who said he met the President over the security situation in the state, noted that the issue of the armed banditry was being exaggerated.

“There is no place being occupied by the armed bandits in Zamfara State. They live and operate in the forest. They strike and run. Most of the camps are known by locals,” he said.

Lamenting the lack of presence of police in many parts of the state, he said policemen redeployed from the state following President Buhari’s directive have not been replaced.

He recalled that the President had directed that policemen, who had spent three years and above be redeployed as a strategy to address the armed banditry in the state.

On his support for declaration of emergency in Zamfara, he said he was not playing politics with it, saying ” I’m not playing politics with it. I’m serious about it.”

Asked whether he discussed the declaration of emergency with Buhari, he said, “not at all.”