Banditry: 200 captives regain freedom in Zamfara -Police

From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau

Zamfara state Police Command has announced the rescue of thirty three more captives including men, women and children within last six days.
The rescue is occasioned by the ongoing exchange of captives between the heartless militia and bandits being watched under peace talks initiated by the state government and the Police.
At a press conference yesterday , the state Commissioner of Police, CP Usman Nagogo who paraded another set of 23 captives rescued from the surrounding forests of Kaura Namoda, Birnin Magaji and Maradun local government areas within last weekend, said the total number of victims who regained freedom has now increased to over 200.
“It would be naive for us to say that, attacks have stopped by 100 percent in Zamfara State, but judging from the fact that banditry in the state has been going on for over 10 years, in a space of three weeks the attacks were reduced to the barest minimum. We are not living in the world of mirage to assume that, we can stop the issue of banditry and militia activities within the space of little time”, CP Nagogo said.
The commissioner informed that, the dialogue for peace has been extended to the 17 emirates of the state which was eventually kicked started at Anka and Birnin Magaji emirates where the sworn enemies, local militia and the bandits’ commanders were brought together and were facilitated to amicably forgive each other in the clear mood of cheering and jokes cracking.
“What is in-contractible was the fact that, the most notorious bandits and the most heartless militia groups reached an amicable settlement of their aged-long rivalry of senseless killings, deprivation of farming activities and caging of all markets activities.
“There is no doubt these helped in no small measure in restoring economic activities in the whole of Anka emirate. Evidently, the markets in this area that were all along locked were reopened and business activities resumed to the fullest”, the commissioner said.
He however, contended that, it is generally agreed that most conflicts are won or lost through dialogue, saying, “In Zamfara State, what security agencies actions could not be tamed through use of force is now being achieved through dialogue and peace reconciliation, I cannot remember any kidnapped victim saved through force, but through persuasions and dialogue, the release of over 200 captives was successfully secured.”
The commissioner warned politicians to avoid taking security matters as their weapons to fight in favour of their political interest but, rather allow security agencies to work out their constitutional duties in protecting lives and property of the citizenry.