By Aiyeku Timothy
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the National Security Adviser, Major-General Babagana Monguno (rtd), to ensure an immediate response to rising cases of bandit attacks on communities in Zamfara State.
The order was disclosed by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Malam Garba Shehu, in a press statement on Friday.
The statement revealed that Buhari demands a clear pathway to ending the resurgent banditry that has led to the destruction of lives and properties.
This is after the Speaker of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, Hon. Nasir Magarya, wrote a letter to the President, urging him to intervene and stop the incessant killings by bandits in the state.
In view of this, a meeting to deliberate on security and the issue of illegal mining which is fueling the crisis in Zamfara State has been set up.
The NSA is expected to be on ground alongside Major-General Bashir Magashi (rtd), Ogbeni Ra’uf Aregbesola and Architect Olamilekan Adegbite, Ministers of Defence, Interior, and Mines and Steel respectively.
Also to attend the meeting are the Directors-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).
The scale of lawlessness has been aggravated by illegal miners who are harvesting resources they have no legal rights to exploit have been identified as one of the major issues to be discussed, aside the bandits crisis.
Statistics hints that more than 20,000 of such miners are undermining this important part of the economy, operating in a manner that is extraordinarily harmful and destructive.
