By Haruna Salami
Zamfara state has been in the news of recent for all manner of crimes – cattle rustling, kidnapping, killings and as a state
where the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC has no candidates for elective positions in the forthcoming 2019 elections due to infighting between the state governor and other stakeholders in the state.
Senator Kabiru Marafa representing Zamfara central has been shouting about all these ills on the floor of the Senate in the last one year. Unfortunately his friend and brother, Senator Tijjani Kaura representing Zamfara north was at a point attacking him, denying some of Marafa’s claims.
However, it was turn of events last week when Senator Kaura stood on the floor of the Senate to say that Zamfara was under siege. This for Senator Marafa was “gratifying “.
Senator Marafa who spoke to Sharedgenews said “for the same person that always says what I’m saying is not true; I’m sadly vindicated, sadly because it’s not my wish. I have this to buttress…yesterday it was my zone completely, but today the heat has been turned on his own people, (they are my own people too). So, whatever he said is true, that is the reality.
“Now the incidence of the pregnant woman that was kidnapped is in my constituency, a village in my local government. These people came, kidnapped about three women, one of them a pregnant woman that was in her labour at the time they came and the husband and the woman herself said she was in pains, but they just don’t care, they took this woman then hours after in captivity she gave birth in the bush.
Then look at the case of the twins, they were in the village distributing their wedding invitation cards, the twins are from Senator Kaura’s constituency, they are not my constituents in real terms. They were distributing cards, but suddenly they were kidnapped alongside their sister that got married last year. The three of them and their brothers were kidnapped, only that the case of the twins was made more prominent because the sympathy was more on them. As I speak with you the remaining are still with the kidnappers, one lady who I learnt is also pregnant and three men. They were captured the same day, same village in Zamfara north senatorial district. Instead of the government to come out with pronouncement that will assist, the government in Zamfara state today is just interested in politic of continuity. The governor was quoted to have said he is going to recruit 8,500 people as vigilante. This is the same person that came out and criminalized vigilante groups in Zamfara state in 2016 in particular.
“He was fuming on Radio and television that anybody caught defending himself or any community is going to be dealt with the same way as the thieves. What changed from that time to now? And looking at the way he responded to issues of primary election that came up last October, the same person made his boys to attack women that came to exercise their franchise of electing people. Six people were killed on October 3rd precisely and many more injured, a situation that led to the cancellation of the primary on October 3rd. Somebody with this kind of background cannot be trusted to hire people, the repercussions could be more than what we are thinking of. People are alleging that he is afraid that some persons that might resist his attempt to impose his candidate during the election and the suspicion is that these people might be led into the bush and be attack for no reason. That was why I made a call to the federal government to look into this issue of recruiting civilian JTF and examine it properly”.