What bandits’ leader told me during a meeting — Gov Matawalle

Governor Bello Muhammad Matawalle of Zamfara State, on Tuesday, said a bandit’s leader once appealed to him during a meeting that their arrest by security operatives should not be publicised.

Governor Matawalle revealed this when he received the national leaders of Radio, Television, Theatre Arts Workers Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU), led by their President Dr Kabir Garba Tsanni in Gusau.

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He said, during a meeting, one of the bandits’ leaders said to him: “Sir, I want to draw your attention to something very important, if you want to record 80 percent success in your quest to bring back peace to the state, then you should stop making the pictures of the bandits captured by security operatives public.

“The reason I told you this is that our top leaders are using the publicisation of captured boys to convince those willing to surrender and come to cities to start new life to stop contemplating that by tagging the action of making the arrests public as “humiliation”, he disclosed.

Governor Matawalle then urged the media to always report things from their positive aspects.

He said the media has a great role to play in shaping the minds of public for good.

“Those scuttling our effort to restore peace because they are in ruling party should have a rethink.

“We will not just fold our arms and watch some misguided elements demystify our efforts in bringing back law and order,” Matawalle warned.

In his speech, the national president of RATTAWU, Dr Kabir Garba Tsanni, said they acknowledged the success recorded by the Matawalle’s administration in restoring peace to the state through dialogue.