A group, Patriots for the Advancement of Peace and Social Development, has said the ongoing military onslaught in the North West region has been yielding positive results in the past three weeks since President Bola Tinubu directed the minister of state for defence, Dr Bello Matawalle, Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa and other top military officers to relocate to Sokoto the second time and flush out bandits in the zone.
The group in a statement by the executive director, Dr Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, said several notorious armed bandits in Zamfara, Sokoto,Kebbi, Katsina, and Kaduna states had been killed in the most effective, concerted and coordinated military operation in Nigeria.
“A renowned master strategist with enormous political sagacity and tenacity of purpose, Matawalle quickly visited, Sabon Birnin, Goronyo, Rabah, Isa Local Government Area which shares boundary with Shinkafi Local Government Area in Zamfara State and also shares border with Sabon Birnin, Goronyo Local Government Area in Sokoto State and Niger Republic where these criminal elements easily smuggle arms and ammunition through the porous borders.
“Today, bandit kingpin, Bello Turji, and his cohorts are in disarray and have no option than to surrender or be killed like Habibu Sububu, their mentor,” he said.
He said the success recorded so far clearly shows the total commitment and readiness of the Minister of State for Defence, Matawalle and Chief of Defence Staff, General Musa to flush out these criminal elements terrorising the zone for over 15 years resulting in kidnapping for ransom, killings, armed robberies, rape, illegal imposition of levies and taxes, extortions, displacement of people from their communities etc. He noted that all these violent non-state actors have been commanding authorities in rural communities.
“We call on some unscrupulous politicians, unguided Islamic clerics, indigenes in rural communities, traditional rulers and unpatriotic security agents to stop sabotaging the fight against these bandits in the North West region ably coordinated by the Minister of State for Defence, Dr Matawalle and the service chiefs. The synergy between the security agencies and the coordinating minister of state for defence is an eloquent testimony of the workability of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda aimed at restoring national security, prosperity and greatness.
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