Insecurity in Zamfara characterised by cattle rustling, abductions – Yari

A former governor of Zamfara State, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, has said insecurity in his home state has been more of direct activities of criminals involved in cattle rustling and other forms of criminal activities, including human abductions.

He said this on Thursday while speaking to journalists at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Zamfara has been largely infested by banditry and kidnapping, which have also been linked with activities of illegal gold miners.

The senator, who said he was at the Villa to pay courtesy to the president, said there are indications that sanity is gradually returning to gold-rich communities following President Tinubu’s deployment of security forces to the area.

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Senator Yari, who currently represents Zamfara West at the upper chambers of the National Assembly, said “When I was there, I didn’t believe that the issue of mining was one of the problems, but when I got out, I began to look at it, attending so many lectures because the people that are causing the trouble, I want you to look at it and study carefully the relationship between the mining and insecurities….

“I can tell you that the issues of mining and insecurity may have a relationship and I believe the president is doing his best because he has started talking with the National Security Adviser on the issue of the insecurity and the many progress had been achieved from. I think it’s been one month, now in the Shinkafi area and part of Zurmi and now they are working on part of Anka and Chaffe, which I used to get the brief from my colleague who is the chairman, security in the Senate”, he said.

Speaking on why he visited the president, Yari said, he came around to pay courtesy and encourage the Nigerian leader for the good work he has started, saying that even though his task is a difficult one, the president cannot complain because he asked for the job.

He, however, alluded that the hard work being embarked on by the president is part of efforts to keep the ruling party in power and to ensure that another member of the party succeeds the administration at the end of subsequent election years.