Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle, has ordered the immediate suspension of unspecified number of district and village heads in Maradun Emirate, where some Fulani were reportedly killed on Thursday.
The governor issued the order during an inter-sectoral security meeting with traditional rulers, security personnel, religious leaders and journalists at the Government House in Gusau on Thursday.
Matawalle said: ““It is sad to note that during this meeting, we have received two different security breach reports from two different areas.
“The Emir of Maradun is hereby directed to leave this meeting, suspend the traditional rulers in whose domains these acts took place, and initiate ways to identify and bring the perpetrators of the act to the authorities within the next three days or face the consequence himself.”
He warned that henceforth any traditional ruler in whose area the outlawed Yan sa kai (volunteer security members) attack anyone whether voluntarily or by taking the law into their hands, the Special Adviser should immediately suspend the affected traditional ruler before setting up investigation.
Matawalle said: “I am in receipt of report that I bought Hilux vans for repentant bandits, which I never did.”
The governor asked the Commander of the 1 Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Gusau: “Brigadier General Bello, have I ever given any vehicle to any repentant bandits in the State as reported recently by (an online news medium)?”
The Army Officer informed the gathering that soldiers in the State, including himself, were surprised when they saw the report, adding that the governor has never done anything like that apart from the 200 operational vehicles given to security agencies by the government last year.
The governor summoned the stakeholders’ emergency meeting immediately on his return from an official engagement outside the following recent spate of armed banditry and mischievous speculations.
– NAN