Governor Abdulaziz Yari has said he would not hesitate to relinquish his position if a state of emergency would address the nagging insecurity in Zamfara State.
Zamfara has recently witnessed higher level of insecurity on account of the activities of armed bandits.
Yari, who was reported to have backed emergency rule to restore sanity to the troubled state, spoke with State House Correspondents yesterday shortly after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential villa, Abuja.
“Yes, we are there as a government because it is the lives of the people we are talking about. If there are no lives, we won’t be there. Therefore, I did not make that statement out of politics because some other people are looking at it politically.
“Since I became governor, I have never taken insecurity as a political affair. I look at it as caused by criminality and I approach it the way that it can be solved. Some other politicians have been calling for state of emergency since three years ago, and I said to myself that if state of emergency would solve the problem, then Yari is ready.”
The governor said he was in the Presidential Villa to brief President Buhari on the situation on ground in Zamfara.
“You are aware of what is happening in Zamfara State, and some parts of the neighboring states with regard to banditry, abduction and insurgency. So it is important that I come forward to brief Mr. President on the situation on ground.
“We sat down, as the head of security in the state, with all other stakeholders and discussed the deteriorating situation and came up with ideas that could help the security agencies through the President to curb the menace.”
Yari assured the residents of the state that his administration was working assiduously to ensure that normalcy returns in the area.
“Our efforts have started yielding results. We believe strongly that with what we have on ground in terms of number of security personnel, if they take their job seriously, within a short time we will get out of this situation. We hope that with encouragement from the president, the issues will be a thing of the past,” he said
