'I have lost confidence in army to protect my people' – Emir of Anka, Zamfara

Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad, the Emir of Anka in Zamfara State says he has lost confidence in security personnel to protect his people and he is therefore seeking the assistance of the United Nations and the African Union.

The first class traditional ruler made this known in his palace when Governor Abdulazeez Yari of the state paid a condolence visit to him on Friday. The emir expressed shock that in less than a week after President Buhari visited the state and charged security agents to brace up and end all forms of insecurity, insurgents still carried out mass killings.  

He said he had lost confidence in the ability and commitment of the security personnel because they had failed in the discharge of their obligations to provide security to the lives and property of the law abiding residents in his domain on different occasions.

According to him, the only hope for the state is to seek the assistance of UN or African Union (AU) in fighting the insurgency in the state. He alleged that corruption among the security agencies and judiciary was the factor fuelling the security problems in the state, saying he will make available list of all identified corrupt security personnel and judges to the state as soon as it would be possible.  

He stressed the need to secure permanent base for security agencies to protect the areas under constant attacks by the gunmen. Earlier, Yari expressed regret over the incessant attacks, urging the security agencies to intensify their efforts at restoring normalcy in the affected areas.  He therefore urged the security agents to apprehend all persons in possession of weapons henceforth to reduce the attacks.  

More than 30 persons were on Thursday buried in Bawan Daji village of Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara, following gunmen attack on the village.  The bandits attacked the area after some members of the community held a meeting to discuss measures to be taken against the bandits during the 2018 farming season.  The bandits had earlier threatened that there would be no farming activities in the area in this year’s rainy season.