The executive governor of Zamfara state, Bello Matawale has revealed that hundreds of bandits have been killed or arrested.
Matawalle disclosed this at the swearing-in of the Secretary to the State Government, Head of Service, 18 commissioners, 16 special advisers and three Director-Generals.
The Zamfara Governor pledged that his administration will not tolerate any complacency in the war against banditry.
According to Matawalle, Zamfara state is at a critical stage where it is trying to get out of “the woods” with the massive clampdown on bandits.
The Governor attributed recent successes to security measures taken flush out the criminals.
”Hundreds of the bandits have been killed and several others arrested along with hundreds of informants and their collaborators”, he said.
Matawalle added that his government had initiated palliatives to address the hardship people are going through.
He appealed that they continue to exercise patience amid the shutdown of network services and socio-economic activities.
It can be recalled that Chronicle NG reported the restoration of telecommunication services by the state government in the Gusau, the capital of Zamfara.
Telecoms had been shut down in the state since September 3, 2021 to allow security operatives clear out bandits from their hideouts in the forests, from where they perpetrate dastardly attacks on innocent citizens of Zamfara state.
The latest development was revealed by Zailani Bappa, Special Adviser to the Zamfara state governor on Public Enlightenment, Media and Communications, who stated that network services will be restored from Friday.
“The Governor has directed for the restoration of telecommunications services within the state Capital of Gusau only with effect from today, Friday, 1st October, 2021.”
“The restoration of the service at the state Capital becomes imperative following the tremendous success recorded in the fight against banditry in the state and to ease the hardship faced by both the private and public sectors of the state.
“Government finds it necessary to ease the tight measure after the recorded success desired of it which has no doubt destabilsed the syndicate of criminals terrosisibg the state leading to the successes recorded against them by the security operatives.
“Governor Matawalle promises that his administration will continue to monitor closely the unfolding developments and will announce further decisions of Government on measurs being taken appropriately.”
The suspension of telecommunication services in the state brought untold hardship on residents as they had to resort to letter-writing as a means of communication.
Some reverted to the use of newspapers and radio transmissions to get updated on current events.
A resident, Kabiru Muhammad, 35, a resident of Gusau, said, “Since I started using smart phones I stopped listening to news on a transistor radio and flipping through the pages of newspapers. I read news on my phone. But because of the present situation in this state I now buy newspapers in the morning and read.”
Alhaji Aminu Abubakar Gumi, another resident of Zamfara, said, “We envisaged that the decision of government to shut down telecom operations in our state would bring succour to the masses because bandits and their informants use mobile phones to communicate and invade communities.
“As expected, the shutdown would have a significant effect on the common man as we got used to mobile phones for interaction. With the mobile phone, it is easy to look for somebody, but with the shutdown of telecommunication, it is now very difficult to relate with people who are not close to you. I spent almost the whole day looking for my customer yesterday. No matter how hard you press to see some people, your efforts will be futile unless Allah destines otherwise.
“We are, however, optimistic that there will be light at the end of the tunnel.”
