Lawmakers Suspended For Allegedly Working With Bandits In Zamfara

• Zamfara Assembly suspends two lawmakers for allegedly working with bandits.
• It was claimed that the two politicians were responsible for the death of late Hon Muhammad G. Ahmad (Walin Jangeru), a former member of the state House of Assembly who represented the Shinkafi seat.

Ekohotblog reports that the Zamfara State House of Assembly has suspended two legislators, Yusuf Muhammad, Anka, representing Anka Constituency, and Ibrahim T. Tukur Bakura, representing Bakura Constituency, for three months over suspected connections with bandits.

Mustapha Jafaru Kaura, the Assembly’s Director-General of Press Affairs and Public Relations, stated that the members will remain absent from the State Assembly until the inquiry into the accusation against them is completed.

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“They are also to appear before the House Committee on ethics and privileges in conjunction with security agencies that are assigned by law to investigate them. These are part of the resolutions reached just now at the House plenary presided over the speaker of the House Rt Hon Nasiru Mu’azu Magarya under matters of urgent public importance,” Kaura said.

Leading the debate on the matter shortly after each and every member swore an oath, member representing Maru North, Hon Yusuf Alhassan Kanoma, drew the attention of his colleagues to the “burning issue” in the House.

He stated that the House should not stay silent in the face of the severe charges brought against the two members.

Kanoma further said that during the kidnapping of the speaker’s father, late Alhaji Mu’azu Abubakar Magarya, two men, Yusuf Muhammad Anka and Ibrahim T Tukur Bakura, were ecstatic about the situation.

He further claimed that the two politicians were responsible for the death of late Hon Muhammad G. Ahmad (Walin Jangeru), a former member of the state House of Assembly who represented the Shinkafi seat.

He said they released information that allowed bandits to trace the deceased. He requested that security agencies follow all of their phone lines and listen in on all of their talks.

Hon Nura Dahiru Sabon birnin Dan Ali, a member representing Birnin Magaji constituency, agreed with his colleague, stating attempts to negotiate with an infamous bandit, Bello Turji, on several times to gain the release of the late speaker’s father should not go in useless.

The speaker, Rt Hon Nasiru Mu’azu Magarya, authorized the outright suspension of the two members in his judgment on the case.

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Speaker Magarya also directed the chairman House Committee on ethics and privileges, Hon Kabiru Hashimu Dansadau, to fully investigate these members and report its findings back to the plenary.

While expressing his dismay over their alleged involvement in banditry activities, the state chief lawmaker also stripped them of the chairmanship of the House standing committees.