We will keep negotiating with bandits — Zamfara Governor, Matawalle

Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, has expressed that the state government will continue to negotiate with bandits to achieve peace in the state.

Matawalle stated this while he was visited by renowned Islamic Scholar, Ahmad Mahmud Gumi, at the Government House on Thursday.

The Zamfara Governor expressed that his government will continue to negotiate with the bandits no matter what the opposition says.

Gumi, who was in the state for a peace meeting with the gunmen, told the governor that “what is currently happening in Zamfara is insurgency and not banditry”.

He said the bandits had completely turned into insurgents following the bad treatment they experienced in the hands of the people of the state.

“In most of the bandits and Fulani camps we have visited in Zamfara, I come to understand that what is happening in the state is nothing but an insurgency,” he said.

Gummi maintained that most of the bandits he came across during his visit to Zamfara forests were only carrying weapons and attacking people because of persistent attacks and harassment from the vigilante group known as the Yansakai.

He expressed the readiness of the bandits to surrender their weapons if they were not attacked by the Yansakai vigilante group again. He also commended Governor Matawalle for attempting dialogue with the bandits.