An interest group, The Patriots for the Advancement of Peace and Social Development, has described the call for a state of emergency in Zamfara as unpatriotic.
The forum’s Executive Director, Alhaji Sani Shinkafi, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, also described those making the call as enemies of the state.
Shinkafi said it was an attempt by some self-centred politicians to create a political upheaval and destabilise the state just recovering from years of armed bandits’ siege.
He said it was outrageous for those he described as failed politicians in the state to sponsor some youths and other proteges to be clamouring for a state of emergency in the state.
Shinkafi said that the call was even coming at a time that security and peace had significantly improved in the state.
According to him, the peace is now paving way for economic activities and massive infrastructural development which had eluded the people of the state in the 13 years of unprecedented armed banditry.
“Those making this call should not only be ignored but also questioned by security agents to unravel their agenda and sponsors.
“No right thinking citizen will take these political hirelings seriously, as they are agents provocateurs doing the bidding of their sponsors,” he said.
Shinkafi said that Gov. Dauda Lawal had been providing strong, progressive, visionary and purposeful leadership, working in synergy with President Bola Tinubu and military authorities, to crush armed banditry in the state.
“It is democracy at its finest. Zamfara citizens have suffered enough due to protracted armed bandits attacks, kidnapping for ransom, cattle rustling and displacement from ancestral homes.
“It is time to rebuild the state, boost economic activities and provide fruits of democracy that will assuage the people’s sufferings,” he said.
Shinkafi urged politicians in the state to eschew politics of bitterness and contribute to transforming it, saying it was time for exhibition of patriotism.
He said that Lawal was not the issue and that he should be allowed to do the job he was elected to do without any undue distraction.
The executive director commended the president and the military for sustained onslaughts against armed bandits and other criminal elements in the state in particular and the North-West zone in general.
“This is in tandem with the provision of Section 14(2)b of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which states that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government,” he said. (NAN)