A group, Concerned Citizens for Peace, Security, and Development has called on the Nigerian government and anti-corruption agencies in the country to prove the immediate former governor of Zamfara state over the rise of banditry during his administration.

The group in a statement signed by Abdullahi Sani Anka, its secretary, said since 2020, they have followed the rise and trajectory of banditry especially in the North Western part of Nigeria that comprises Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara States with a special focus on Zamfara State which has undoubtedly remained the epicenter of banditry in Nigeria.

The statement reads: ” We call on security agencies and corruption commissions, to as a matter of urgency arrest, investigate, and prosecute the outgone governor of Zamfara or hand him over to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to answer for his heinous crimes against humanity.

“We have it on good authority; the Governor has perfected a plan to exit the country to evade arrest and prosecution as soon as President-elect Bola Tinubu is sworn into office.”

He said: “We have equally x-rayed Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle’s peace accord and its attendant achievements or otherwise since his assumption of office in 2019…”

“The peace accords the former Governor parades as his major achievement is nothing but a high-wired deception to divert attention from the real issue behind the root cause of banditry, its sponsors, and enablers.

“You may recall sometime in 2009, the Governor sets up a fact-finding committee on the remote and immediate causes of banditry to unravel actors, agents, and triggers of the banditry. The Committee was constituted and headed by the former Inspector General of Police, IGP MD Abubakar, other members of the committee include Sen. Saidu Dansadau, Dr. Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi among others.

“The committee has since concluded its reports and submitted same to the Governor with far-reaching recommendations including but not limited to dethroning of some indicted Emirs, District Heads, and Village Heads, other recommendations include dismissal and decommissioning of some security agents found to have aided banditry in one way or the other.

“But, the reports never saw the light of day because those indicted had allegedly threatened to expose the role of some government official in the escalation of the banditry and how he profits from it.

“The committee further recommends the setting up of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to address all forms of banditry in Zamfara State. However, three years after the submission of the reports, Governor Bello Matawalle has turned a blind eye as he neither set up a judicial commission nor implemented any of the recommendations of the MD Abubakar’s Committee Report.

The group alleged that the former governor allegedly used the peace accord to get into the good books of President Muhammadu Buhari and through an effective media suppression strategy that involves financial inducement and the instigation of transfer of journalists whose conscience cannot be bought over. The resurgence of banditry in Zamfara State is on a scale never witness before his ascension, as thousands of refugees wander in parts of Zamfara State with no one to cater for them.

Matawalle’s strategy has empowered and emboldened bandits to carry more heinous crimes against humanity in the way and manner he relates with them through regular phone calls and monetary and vehicular gifts to bandits kingpins operating in Zamfara State.