By Dele Ogbodo
With unabated killing spree and slaughtering of Nigerians across the country by all forms of bandits and kidnappers which adds up to 301 killed persons just in the month
of May alone, a repentant group of bandits in Zamfara State is said to have surrendered 216 rifles, mostly AK47.
Can this be said to be a cheerful news? Observers and security stakeholders who spoke to SHARPEDGENEWS, asked if this is not a decoy to armtwist the state government into funneling monies from them.
Zamfara, Katsina and Borno States, predominantly heavy farming enclaves and communities can be adduced as food basket of the country have become so hard hit with insecurity that farmers have abandoned their farms for fear of being killed.
Despite the rains, prices of food stuff are already on the upswing ascent, no doubt attributable to the security challenges.
The 301 Nigerians killed in May was aggregated by a media tracking body with the sobriquet: Nigeria Mourns (NM), said the deceased included 22 soldiers and 7 Policemen. Just as this report was to be laid to the web, 4 Police men were gunned down in Bayelsa State and their guns carted away.
With the cloud of fear enveloping Zamfara, the Director General, Press Affairs, Mr. Yusuf Idris, in a statement made available to the media however said the arms were voluntarily returned to government of Zamfara State, by bandits that have locked down the state in the past months, adding that the bandits have turncoat and decided to embrace peace.
The repentance of the bandits, according to Idris, coincided with the visit of the former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, who has been on rapproachment across the states to find solutions to the nation’s teething security challenges.
While commending Gowon, the governor of Zamfara State, Mr. Bello Matawalle, said tapping from the wealth of Gowon’s experience, would assist his government in proferring solution to the security challenges.
In his response, the elder statesman, said he was visiting the state to pray for an end to the violence in the North-west geopolitical zone and also to seek for God’s blessing for the leaders for people ori