By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
Sequel to the recent No Fly Zone declaration by the federal government on Zamfara State, a non-governmental organisation, Patriots for the Advancement Of Peace and Social Development (PAPSD), has charged the All Progressives Congress (APC) led federal government and the Service Chiefs to stop playing politics with the lives and security of Nigerians.
This is just as the group claimed that the no-fly zone proclaimed in Zamfara State by President Muhammadu Buhari is a plot by the APC led Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the state.
PAPSD also stated that the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno, has failed woefully in the discharge of his duties, which according to it made the immediate past service chiefs not to be briefing him of their activities.
Executive Director of PAPSD, Sani Abdulahi Shinkafi, in a statement at the weekend, wondered why Zamfara State should be singled out, when there is escalated banditry, terrorism, kidnapping and other forms of violent crimes in APC-controlled states like Kaduna, Katsina, Borno, Yobe, Niger, Nasarawa, Plateau and Kogi.
He said despite the realities on ground in these APC controlled States, yet there was no attempt by the President to seek to impose a state of emergency or declare such States as No-Fly Zones, hence PAPSD cautioned that rather than the selective approach to the fight against banditry, terrorism and kidnapping, the presidency should go back to the drawing board and adopt a holistic approach to quell the prevailing insecurity in the country.
Shinkafi also noted that Governor Bello Matawalle is not the first governor, particularly in the North-West, to adopt a dialogue solution to tackle insecurity in the country, adding that the governor adopted an intervention approach as a distress measure, following the failures of the presidency to guarantee the security of lives and property in the state.
According to him, “the APC led Federal Government should stop playing the 2023 politics with armed banditry in Zamfara State. The APC leadership missed the point due to pettiness, contempt and attempts to play to the gallery. The APC should demonstrate patriotism by sympathizing with the people and come up with their own ideas on how to end banditry.
“We wonder why the APC led federal government is passing the buck of armed banditry to the Governor Matawalle led administration when it is obvious that the issue of armed banditry in Zamfara State dates to the days of the immediate past APC administration in the state.
“Under the Matawalle led administration armed banditry and kidnapping has been reduced to the barest minimum. It is on record that it is the failure of the immediate past APC administration in Zamfara that saw the issue of armed banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling rising to the highest level in the State where thousands of people were kidnapped, over half a million people were displaced, more than N2.8billion was paid as ransom to kidnappers.
“More than 25,000 children were orphaned, while 6,500 women were widowed, livestocks in thousands rustled and properties worth billions of Naira destroyed, farmlands were deserted, commercial activities grounded and Yankasai; outlawed vigilante group, was killing people indiscriminately. It is on records that the immediate past Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, resigned publicly as Chief Security officer of the State, yet nobody deemed it fit to declare a no fly zone or declare a state of emergency”, he added.
