Group asks Buhari to declare state of emergency in Zamfara

Zamfara Advocates, a pressure group, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare state of emergency over insecurity in the northern part of the country.

Over the months, scores have been killed and many displaced by suspected bandits in Zamfara state and other parts of the north-west.

In a statement on Thursday, Zamfara Advocates acknowledged the effort of the government in fighting insecurity but asked for a lasting relief from the attacks and killings.

“We note these efforts, named Operation Puff Adder, Operation Sharan Daji and the latest security operation ‘Operation Harbin Kunama III’ launched on 1st April 2019, have borne some fruit and provided temporary relief to part of our communities, but it is clear that the improvement in security isn’t across all of Zamfara and has not provided a lasting relief from the attacks, abductions and killings in the state,” the statement read.

“Scores of lives continue to be lost and scores more are daily still been abducted by the armed bandits operating in the state. Media reports that 41 people were killed and 5 kidnapped between April 28th and May 4th 2019 in areas such as Bungudu, Birnin Magaji and Kunkulai in Zamfara State.

“Just last week armed bandits invaded Government Girls Secondary School Moriki abducting staff members and their families in the process.

“As if the situation in Zamfara is not bad enough, there are now daily reports of these nefarious activities spreading to the neighboring Katsina state forcing communities to relocate to Niger Republic. Existing insecurity in Kaduna state seems to have also intensified with the key Abuja-Kaduna expressway becoming impossible to ply for regular folks. Over all insecurity is at all-time high in the north-west in particular and the north in general.

“We are therefore calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency on the issue of insecurity and immediately focus his mind on tackling this issue once and for all.”

The group feared the north is now on a precipice and unless something is done urgently, they will tumble into chaos.

It added that there will be immediate, dire consequences if a greater part of people in the north are not able to farm this season as a result of insecurity.

The group also called on the military, other security agencies to set up a transparent process for “weeding out the bad eggs among them”, asking the president to examine those he has given the task of securing Nigerian and get rid of those who have shown themselves to be incapable and replace them with those who can do the job.