A group Southern Nigeria Youth Movement has called on Governor Dauda Lawal to refrain from his constant attacks on the ex-governor, Dr Bello Matawalle and focus on ridding the state of bandits and terrorists.
The group in a statement by its President Comrade Ikechukwu Okeke noted that the 14 local governments in the state are currently under attack by bandits and criminals, yet the government points accusing fingers at the Minister of State of Defence, Matawalle.
“Zamfara boils on a daily basis and in the news for killings, kidnapping for ransom, displacement of people from their ancestral homes by bandits who now operate unchallenged.
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“Presently, Governor Lawal is out of the country while all the 14 Local Government Areas of the state are under heavy attacks by these criminal armed bandits forcing the State Government on the recommendation of the State Security Council on 3rd April 2024, to order restriction of movement along the state’s borders with Katsina and Sokoto from 7 pm to 6 am following resurgence of terrorists attacks on innocent people including Moslem worshippers who are being killed and kidnapped during morning and evening prayers in this glorious spiritual month of Ramadan in Gusau, the state capital”.
“Southern Nigeria Youth Movement wants to refresh Governor Lawal’s memory that Dr Bello Matawalle has been appointed Minister of Defence for State by President Bola Tinubu to champion the Renewed Hope agenda in tackling insecurity in Nigeria which comprises Boko Haram, banditry, insurgency, kidnapping, secession (IPOB), Eastern Security Network, militancy, communal conflicts, farmers-herders conflicts,cultism, oil bunkering, piracy etc.
“The Defence Minister’s main responsibility is to manage all branches of the Nigerian Armed Forces, to maintain a modern, competent, and professional military force for the protection of the national territory, maritime interests, airspace, and constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, the statement said.
The group recalled that in a two-day interactive session organized by a Coalition of Northern Civil Society Organizations, where service chiefs, the Minister of Defence, Northern Governors, traditional rulers led by the Sultan of Sokoto and prominent leaders in the region attended, Matawalle and Lawal promised the nation that they would work together in the fight against banditry and related offences to make Zamfara State safer.
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