Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, in a military style press release on Tuesday dissolved his entire State Executive Council with immediate effect.

A tweet on the governor’s handle reads “The State Executive council is hereby dissolved with immediate effect. The Secretary to the State Government, Chief of staff and Deputy chief of staff are relieved of their duties. All chairmen, members of the state commission and boards of various agencies are hereby dissolved.”

The State Executive council is hereby dissolved with immediate effect. The Secretary to the State Government, Chief of staff and Deputy chief of staff are relieved of their duties. All chairmen, members of the state commission and boards of various agencies are hereby dissolved

— Dr. Bello Matawalle (@Bellomatawalle1) June 1, 2021

The Governor’s Special Adviser on Public Enlightenment, Media and Communications, Zailani Bappa, gave further clarification in a different statement.

He disclosed that governor Matawalle also directed the dissolution of the chairmen and members of the state commissions, as well as the boards of various agencies.

He, however, stated that the directive does not affect commissions provided for by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“In view of this directive, all honorable commissioners would hand over affairs of their ministries to their respective permanent secretaries, except Ministry of Security and Home Affairs which will be overseen by Retired DIG Mohammed Ibrahim Tsafe.

“Chairmen of commissions and boards are hereby directed to hand over to their most senior directors. The Head of Service will oversee the office of the Secretary to the State Government,” the statement said.

Similarly, Governor Matawalle has approved the suspension of the Emir of Dansadau, Hussaini Umar, with immediate effect.

He, therefore, directed the District Head of Dansadau, Nasiru Muhammad, to oversee the affairs of the emirate.

The governor, who also suspended the District Head of Nasarawa Mailayi, Bello Wakkala, set up a committee to investigate the activities of the suspended traditional title holders of Dansadau and Nassarawa Mailayi.

Tsafe is the chairman of the committee which has as members, Yusuf Kanoma, Ibrahim Tukur, Ahmad Kanoma, Abdullahi Dalla, and Kabir Maru, as well as Abdurrashid Haruna as secretary.

“His Excellency also wishes to reiterate the order that government security agencies are to effectively implement the presidential order to shoot any bandit, person or group seen with guns other than those approved to lawfully carry guns,” the governor’s spokesman said in a separate statement

Why the entire government of Zamfara state was dissolved.

As for the traditional monarchs that were suspended, they were accused of aiding and abetting bandits in their domains.

Just last week in neighboring Katsina state, the emir of Kankara was also suspended on allegations of habouring bandits and kidnappers.

Zamfara state is one of the poorest states in Nigeria and one of the hardest hit by the security challenges in the country, many analysts have argued that these changes in personnel is to inject new ideas that will stimulate the state’s economy and possibly improve the security situation.

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The governor stated this on Thursday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He argued that most of the bandits take up arms due to the injustice meted on them by some members of society.

In recent times, criminal gangs known as bandits have sprung up across the country, mostly in northern Nigeria. They engage in extortion, kidnap for ransom and highway armed robbery.

Hundreds of persons have been killed or kidnapped by the bandits in Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Niger, Kaduna and Nasarawa states being the hardest hit.

While explaining the reasons for the rising insecurity across the country, Mr Matawalle alleged that those saddled with the responsibility of protecting the community sometimes rustle their cattle and destroy their livelihood.

He said since they have nobody to speak to, they resort to violence.

“Not all of them are criminals. If you investigate what is happening, and what made them take the laws into their hands, some of them, sometimes were cheated by so-called the vigilante group.

They (security agents) normally go to their settlements and destroy property and take their animals. They did not have anyone to speak with, so sometimes, they go for revenge. When the vigilante group attacks them, they go for reprisals. That is exactly what happened,” the governor said.

He also indited the military, whom he said contribute to the problems in the villages.

“Some of them are living in settlements close to villages or towns. When there are military operations, the military will go and destroy their property and animals. They are angry with such actions sometimes. If you are talking to them, you can understand where they are coming from and their problems,” Mr Matawalle said.

“It is important for us as leaders to sit down with them and understand what is the genesis. You can’t just conclude that this person is a criminal. You have to listen to him. What led him to go into such activities?

“It is not all Fulanis that are criminals. Some are good citizens, but due to some circumstances, they subscribed to such criminality but when we had the information, we called their leaders and sat with them, they told us their grudges and we sorted out the way the communities and the Fulanis can resolve their issues without any serious crisis.”

He said he believes the problem will be put to an end if governors can follow in his footsteps.

“In my state, I am constructing RUGA for them, like a settlement that can contain some of them because sincerely speaking, if we allow them going around from one place to another, we cannot find a solution to this issue.

“So the only thing the governors should do and we are discussing that is to contain them in one place. Like a Fulani from Zamfara should not migrate to another neighbouring state. How are we going to do that? This is something that needs a lot of resources because you will have to create something that can engage them.

“You have to provide social amenities for them. Like the RUGA that we are doing, we have many amenities like school, hospital, veterinary clinic, market and even mini stadium.

“If we allow them to migrate from one place to another, that is where the problem is. I believe that very soon, the Nigeria Governors Forum will discuss that so that we can be able to know what action all the governors should take to contain them in one place,” the governor stated.

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