Zamfara Lawmaker Wants Synergy In Fight Against Banditry

• Synergy

A member representing Maru constituency in Zamfara House of Assembly, Alhaji Yusuf Kanoma, has called for more synergy and understanding between the state government and security agencies in the fight against bandits.

Kanoma made the call on Friday at a town hall meeting in Bungudu on the state’s 2021 budget appropriation bill, Eko hot blog gathered.

The meeting was jointly organised by the state’s Ministry of Budget and the House of Assembly to seek opinions on the budget from the communities before its final passage by the lawmakers.

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On the sideline of the meeting, Kanoma alleged that security agencies were not fully supportive of the effort of Gov. Bello Matawalle in addressing security challenges facing the state.

The lawmaker pointed out that “it is only when the two parties come together that the issue would be fully addressed”.

He said that there were many times of emergency situations that the security operatives did not respond to distress calls, thereby allowing bandits to terrorise innocent citizens.

Kanoma gave instances of when bandits attacked people of Kunkurai and Maje communities, where he personally rang up the security heads for reinforcement, but they allegedly failed to respond “to the cries of the people.”

He said that during one of the attacks, a helicopter was deployed to hover around the area, but the attack could not be contained, leading to the loss of innocent lives and the destruction of their properties.

He added that the most worrisome was the attack on the people of Dutsin Gari, where people were abducted during prayer in a mosque, as the security operatives could not help.

The lawmaker noted that in spite of the effort made to rescue the mosque abductees, there were still 18 people remaining in captivity.

On the proposed budgetary allocation to his constituency in the 2021 financial year, the law maker cautioned his constituents against expecting him to execute the projects.

“Ours is to ensure that these projects are carried out and that they have met the requirements of standard best practices,” Kanoma said.

Meanwhile, some members of the community who spoke at the event, urged the state government to reconstruct Dansadau-Gusau road, improve reading and learning in schools and complete abandoned viable projects.

They noted that these steps would ease movement and help in reducing insecurity.