7 arrested for the slaying of 19 people in Zamfara

Zamfara State Governor Abdul'Aziz Yari Abubakar has confirmed that the police have arrested seven suspects in connection with the Saturday attack on Lingyado village where 19 people were reportedly killed and several others injured.

The governor, who spoke to newsmen yesterday in Gusau on the 12 years of shari'ah implementation and the15th anniversary of the state, said the Commissioner of Police confirmed the arrest to him, assuring that the suspects would be moved to the state capital for prosecution. It seems they have developed their own criminal investigation schools.

He said the state might request the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, to release a patrol helicopter to comb the forest hideout of the bandits "because tracking them with vehicles is proving unsuccessful, as they operate with motorcycles".

According to the governor, security reports have shown that the attackers are mostly from outside the state and are from countries as far as the Central African Republic.

He said reports reaching him from the Emir of Dansadau showed that the villagers were seeking refuge at neighbouring villages.

Claiming that the attackers were based in Magami area of Maradun Local Government Area, the governor said the information available to the sole administrator of the council area had indicated that the attackers planned to attack Lingyado and another village.

The governor, who regretted that the attack had occurred before government officials could communicate the information to the state capital, said security agents were, however, quickly mobilized to avert the attack on the other village.

Recounting series of attacks that had so far led to the death of over 30 people in Dansadau, the governor said "it started when some groups of Fulani men proclaimed that nobody, except them, could ever again own cattle in the area."

This, according to him, made villagers, in collaboration with vigilante groups kill suspected robbers of Fulani descent; a development he attributed to the series of reprisal attacks in the area.

If the security agencies were under his command, he claimed, the attacks would have been averted. "That is why I don't blame people agitating for state police because if you cannot hire and fire a person, you can hardly control him/her," he said.

Daily Trust

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