Lieutenant-General-Tukur-Yusuf-Buratai
Buratai Support Gov
Lieutenant-General-Tukur-Yusuf-Buratai
Buratai Support Gov Matawalle on Civil-Military
Relations to End banditry in Zamfara
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai has
said the Nigerian Army would support any process adopted by the
government of Zamfara state to bring an end to banditry in the
state.
Buratai stated this when the Governor of Zamfara state, Bello
Mohammed Matawalle, paid him a courtesy visit at the Army
headquarter in Abuja.
“The Nigerian Army is in support of whatever the civil
authorities decide to bring an end to insecurity in whatever part
of the country,” he said.
Buratai who reiterated the commitment of the Army to secure and
rid the nation of all forms of criminality including banditry
commended the governor for the steps he has taken so far towards
bringing peace to the state.
He said: “We are 100 per cent in support of whatever the civil
administration decides towards bringing about peace and security in
our country.
“We have remained apolitical and indeed the military is an
instrument of the state; for it to achieve the state objectives in
bringing peace and development to the country.
“I want to say that the dialogue option must be comprehensive,
there must be disarmament which is quite fundamental.”
“We will support you to ensure that there is complete
disarmament and equally the concept of de-radicalisation and other
political process which I believe the government will take note and
see how it can implement it not only in Zamfara state but across
the states that are facing this banditry especially Sokoto,
Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states.
“Definitely as I said’ it is a collective effort. Just about two
days ago, the combined troops of the military including the police
and the state services went from Zamfara into Katsina state to
flush out these bandits and over 170 of them were either
neutralised or captured or absconded from their camps. This is one
of the pressures that the Army had put on the criminals that have
forced them to look for the dialogue option,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Gov. Matawalle said he was at the Army
Headquarters to show appreciation to the COAS and personnel of the
Army for their efforts towards combating banditry in zamfara state
and for providing enabling environment for dialogue and
negotiations to take place between the state government and the
bandits leading to serious improvements in security and the release
of over 120 persons including foreign nationals.
According to the governor, “Part of the zamfara state dialogue
with the bandits is the appeal by the bandits through the state
Governor to the Army to suspend or scale down its operations as a
condition for them (bandits) to surrender and lay down their
arms.”
By PRNigeria