The Lead Representative of Zamfara State believes the reign of terror wreaked on the state and its environs by notorious bandit leader Bello Turji will soon come to an end.
Lead Representative Lawal is likewise certain that the bandit leader will soon be nabbed or eliminated.
“It’s only a matter of time,” the governor said on Monday during an appearance on a televised show when asked about the probability that the notorious bandit will be stopped.
“With what we have in place, with the collaboration between us (the state government) and the Federal Government, security agencies, believe me, it is only a matter of time; Turji would be killed very, very soon.”
The Lead Representative’s remarks come just days after the military made significant gains against bandits, eliminating wanted bandit leader Halilu Sububu, who had been terrorizing people Zamfara, Sokoto and other parts of the Northwest.
Sububu and more than 30 other bandits were eliminated last week.
The governor does not expect the elimination of the Turji to end the banditry in the state, but he is confident “it will bring it down significantly”.
Lead Representative Lawal believes the military is in the right direction and ought not let up.
This is vital for ending banditry totally, as indicated by him.
“What we need to do is to sustain this military pressure,” he said.
“If we are able to sustain this pressure within the next two weeks to one month, believe me, it will be a different story as far as banditry is concerned.”
Aside from being a hotbed for banditry in the nation, Zamfara State has likewise been in the news for illegal mining, with mineral resources running into millions of dollars being carted away.
Non-state actors have been reported to be significantly engaged in illegal mining activities, and there have been allegations that illegal miners fund some of the bandits.
“There is correlation between banditry and, to some extent, these mining activities. You can’t rule that out,” Governor Lawal said.
To check mate illegal mining activities, the Lead Representative wants a review of the way the mining sector is coordinated.
This, he made sense of the fact, is to guarantee “proper collaboration between the Federal Government because mining is on the exclusive list, however, the land belongs to the state government”.
“So, there must be that synergy between the two,” he added.
As things stand, he said it is challenging to even determine the number of licensed miners in the state.
He likewise communicated that the state knows next to nothing about the income that the Federal Government generates from mining there.
