A civil society organization, CSO, Situation Room on Monitoring the War Against Banditry, has implored President Bola Tinubu to freeze federal allocations to Zamfara State and impose emergency rule over Governor Dauda Lawal’s alleged role in banditry in the state.
The advocacy group claimed the Lawal administration’s handling of security votes has effectively subsidized criminal elements operating from the shadows.
“This is nothing short of feeding bandits right from Government House,” the group stated, pointing to a recent video where Governor Lawal openly disclosed knowledge of bandit kingpins’ hideouts but stopped short of decisive action
Addressing journalists on Sunday, Patriot Henry Abba, convener of the Situation Room, decried the governor’s statements as a “damning admission of guilt” that has plunged Zamfara deeper into chaos
“It’s shocking, heartbreaking – a blatant betrayal of trust and a catastrophic leadership failure,” Abba noted.
He argued that Lawal’s reluctance to relay the critical intelligence to federal security outfits has transformed the state into a “notorious graveyard” where abductions, massacres, and mass displacements have become the grim routine for innocent residents.
Abba painted a harrowing picture of Zamfara’s plight: villages reduced to rubble, families torn apart by nightly raids, and farmlands abandoned under the shadow of fear.
According to him, considering the state’s substantial security budget – reportedly N600 million disbursed monthly – Lawal’s professed helplessness is “utterly irresponsible”.
Abba slammed the governor’s conduct as a direct affront to frontline troops risking their lives and a desecration of the sacrifices made by fallen heroes in the fight against insurgency.
Dismissing attempts by the governor’s supporters to spin the video as a desperate appeal for federal aid, Abba insisted, “This isn’t a plea; it’s a confession. He knows the exact dens of these murderers yet opts for inaction while his citizens perish.”
He challenged Lawal to substantiate any claims of prior intelligence-sharing with agencies like the military or police, questioning why such vital information has seemingly evaporated into bureaucratic voids.
The Situation Room further accused Lawal of enabling a system where local government allocations, intended for rural development, are siphoned off into personal coffers.
“Chairmen are holed up in Gusau, far from their domains, turning grassroots funds into illicit windfalls,” Abba revealed, fueling suspicions of widespread graft amid the security vacuum.
He suggested that Lawal’s public outburst was a calculated ploy to vilify the President Bola Tinubu administration and deflect scrutiny from his own governance lapses.
“It’s politics pushed to extremes – a theatrical bid to obscure the anarchy in Zamfara’s lawless frontiers,” Abba opined, branding the governor’s approach as evidence of a morally adrift leadership devoid of purpose.
The Situation Room issued a multi-pronged call to action for President Tinubu. First, it demanded an immediate suspension of Zamfara’s federal allocations until a thorough audit clears the air on security vote expenditures.
The group advocated for a collaborative investigation involving the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Department of State Services, DSS, and the Office of the National Security Adviser to unearth any diversions of public resources to criminal ends.
Additionally, the group demanded a National Assembly-led inquiry to grill Lawal on his stewardship, emphasizing transparency in how security intelligence is managed.
“We need safeguards for whistleblowers and victims who’ve been muzzled,” Abba stressed, underscoring the peril faced by those daring to speak out.
If probes confirm Lawal’s complicity in sustaining bandit networks, the CSO urged “urgent contemplation of emergency rule in Zamfara” to restore order and reclaim the state from what it described as the grip of terrorism.
