From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Former Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Intelligence and Internal Security, Hon Aminu Sani Jaji, has dismissed the anxiety in some quarters that the current insecurity challenges in Zamfara State will affect the fortune of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 general elections.
He also maintained that the ruling party is solidly rooted and in the state, expressing confidence that the incidence of 2019 general election will not repeat in the 2023 poll.
Fielding questions from newsmen during an interactive session in Abuja, Jaji, a governorship aspirant of APC in 2019, however urged security agencies to do more and end banditry activities in Zamfara.
His words: “There was insecurity in Zamfara before 2019. I was a council chairman. The first incident that took place in Zamfara was in my local government. It happened in September 2011 during former Governor Abdul Aziz Yari administration when some commuters traveled from Birnin Magaji to Batsari then the bandits killed them and set them ablaze including their commodities.
“The thing continues up till the time that about 300 were killed in one day. So many things have happened in the state of which everybody knows about it before 2019. And the thing continues. If you look at the figures from 2011, to 2015, and 2019, the people that have lost their lives, you will know that this thing is there. It is not something you blame one person for. The challenge is there.
“The security agencies need to do their best. I said anybody who engages in any reconciliatory committee as a leader from 2011 till date, not only in Zamfara State anywhere, the security needs to investigate that person and interrogate him very well. And even keep him on their watch list.
“The issue of insecurity is something that we know about it and it will not geopardise the chances of the APC. The party will continue to win despite the challenge of insecurity,” Jaji assured.
Reacting to the crisis rocking the party in Zamfara which resulted in factions, the former federal lawmaker said governor Bello Matawalle has been able to unite the party, dismissing the speculation of fwctionalising the as ex-governor Yari is no longer a card-carrying member of the APC.
“I don’t know if Yari is a registered member of the party. But for me, he is not an APC member. There is no faction and I want to assure that what happened in 2019 cannot happen again. We will not allow it to happen because the governor knows the mandate is not for him alone but for the people. And he will allow the people to give it to who they like,” he assured.