Zamfara Governor Bello Matawalle says he is committed to employing every method necessary to maintain peace in the state.
As part of efforts to fight banditry in Zamfara, Matawalle’s administration has made it a policy to extend an olive branch to bandits who are willing to give up a life of crime.
The policy has been noted to have significantly reduced the frequency of bloody attacks in the state, but critics have slammed it as rewarding criminals.
Matawalle said at the Government House on Thursday, February 4, 2021 that the opinion of critics will not stop him from negotiating with bandits who want to surrender peacefully.
He said, “I’m being blackmailed from different quarters for having a dialogue with the armed bandits. Some said I’m with them, others said I harbour them.
“We have seen the positive impacts of this deal. Rural markets are now picking up.
“We have rescued dozens of kidnapped victims without firing a single shot.
“If we know that force can stop the attacks, we won’t bother to have a dialogue with the armed men.”
Bello’s comments came on the heels of a meeting with a delegation led by Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi.
Gumi said the easiest and safest way to end insecurity in the north is that have turned the region into a killing field.
The cleric has become a peace broker over the past few months, meeting with bandits in Kaduna and Zamfara to negotiate their peaceful surrender.
He said, “I am in full support of what the governor is doing in negotiating with these citizens that are misled. I call them misled citizens.
“I’ve spoken with them face-to-face and they’re ready to lay down their arms if their conditions are fulfilled, and I find all conditions they gave as justifiable.
“They don’t want to be lynched when they come into our markets, or be profiled just for riding a new motorcycle.
“These are complaints so basic. They want amenities, schools, hospitals. I hope Nigerians will come together so that we have everlasting peace.”
Gumi said ‘armchair critics’ should stop knocking negotiation efforts because a similar process was employed with militants in the Niger Delta to restore peace in the region.
