Banditry will soon be over in Zamfara – Buratai

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has said that banditry and other criminal activities which have bedeviled Zamfara will soon be over.

Buratai stated this in Gusau on Thursday while unveiling the Eagle and symbol of the 1 Brigade of the Nigerian Army at the official handover of the complex by Zamfara Government to the Nigerian Army.

The COAS, who was represented by the Commander of the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps, Maj. Gen. Hakeem Otiki, commended the State Government for providing the facility, assuring that the Nigerian Army would remain resolute in protecting the territorial integrity of the country.

He said the 1 Brigade in Zamfara would be given all the required equipment and manpower that would contain the security threats currently facing the state.

He charged the troops to continue to support the nation’s democracy and remain apolitical.

Buratai said that the overall symbol of the brigade, the Eagle, signified peace, strength and courage which he also said would continue to be the watch words of officers and men of the brigade.

Earlier, the Brigade Commander, Brig. Gen. Lynus Udeagbala, said the movement of the brigade from Sokoto to Gusau and the donation of the facility to the army by the Zamfara Government had created a conducive working environment and would bring out the best in the soldiers.

He said the personnel of the brigade would continue to collaborate with other security agencies in the area with a view to neutralising all forms of criminality in the state.

The General Officer Commanding 8 Division of the Nigerian Army, Sokoto, Maj. Gen. Stevenson Olabanji, in his address, said the brigade which participated in the nation’s civil war, transited from Minna to Sokoto in 1991 and to Zamfara in 2018.

Olabanji said Operation Sharan Daji which he is Commanding in the North-West was fully on course in the fight against bandits.

Commissioning the facility, Gov. Abdulaziz Yari expressed his administration’s commitment to support security agencies deployed to the state.

The governor was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Abdullahi Shinkafi.

He said the engagement of 8,500 youth from the 17 Emirate Councils in the state was based on the need for community- based approach to support the conventional security in tracking the criminals to their hideouts.