Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle has said his administration has adopted a carrot and stick approach in handling security issues in the state, saying both approaches are being employed concurrently.
The state government in collaboration with the police, army and Civil Defence, in an effort to stem the tide of banditry in Zamfara, had deployed a joint operational squad to Bindin District of Maru Local Government Area in the state.
Governor Matawalle spoke to State House Correspondents at the conclusion of a meeting with the Chief of Staff to President, Professor Ibraham Gambari, Monday night in Abuja.
He explained that Zamfara was working with repentant bandits that have already subscribed to the state’s peace initiative to profile and re-integrate into society, while those who have refused to dialogue are being dealt with.
‘You know in handling security issue, we have to adopt so many methods; so we are using both stick and carrot. So it is going concurrently. There are some repentant bandits that have already subscribed to the peace initiative; we are using them. But some that refused to key into the dialogue; we are fighting them,’ the governor said.
According to him, all efforts are focused towards restoring peace to trouble parts of the state.
‘I am here to see the Chief of Staff because of the issue that is bedevilling Zamfara State. We have discussed intensively the security issue in Northern Nigeria, not just Zamfara State,’ the governor told reporters.
‘We met in the National Security Adviser’s office with Northern governors alongside the Inspector-General of Police and other security agencies where we discussed seriously on the issues of insecurity, and I was invited here by the Chief of Staff to the President to come and brief him on the issue of insecurity in my state, which I have done and we understand where we are going.
‘The Zamfara State Government and the security agencies are doing their best to make sure that we curtail this issue of insecurity.’
The governor said that the ongoing military operation in the state is recording a lot of successes.
‘It is very successful, the security operatives are doing very and they have been with us for about a month now and we are seeing the results.’ the stated. ‘They have recorded a lot of successes in their operation and it has to continue.’
Matawalle pledged the full support of the state government to security agencies in the state, as he assured citizens that the matter of insecurity would soon come to an end.