By The Zamfara State Government, on Friday, revealed that it has spent the sum of N970 million on payment of ransom to bandits to secure the release of kidnapped victims.
The Commissioner of Information in Zamfara, Ibrahim Dosara, made this known while addressing a press conference in Kaduna State.
He stated that no fewer than 2,619 people have been killed in various attacks by bandits in Zamfara, noting that the deaths were recorded in the state between 2011 and 2019.
Dosara stated that over 100,000 people were displaced from their ancestral homes as a result of bandits’ activities, while 14,378 livestock were rustled within the period.
The commissioner lamented that there were more than 100 different camps and over 30,000 bandits operating across Zamfara State and beyond, adding that state government’s amnesty programme for bandits would continue in order to secure its people.
According to Dosara, Zamfara lacks enough security forces from the Federal Government to secure the lives and properties of the people in the state.
He, however, believes the attacks by bandits in Zamfara have drastically reduced since the inception of the Bello Matawalle administration in 2019.
The commissioner said the government has put practicable measures in place, such as the peace and reconciliation process and the amnesty programme, to tackle the security challenges in the state.
Over 62 bandits have surrendered their arms through the dialogue and peace process of the government, he stated. This development has led to the release of over 2,000 kidnapped victims with the help of repentant bandits.
Dosara, giving a background of the genesis of rural banditry in Zamfara, said it began with a conflict between the Fulani and Hausa communities in the state.
He decried that the recent upsurge in occasional attacks and kidnappings in some parts of the state were being masterminded by some conflict entrepreneurs and informants who connived with the recalcitrant bandits to commit heinous acts.
