The Zamfara State Command of the Nigeria Hunters and Forest Security Services says only conventional security agencies cannot contain the terrorists ravaging the state, insisting that they need the support of others.
The Command said there are associations in the state that can help in ending the violence but there is no support from the state government, recalling that the union has been doing everything within its power to restore peace in the state by arresting and handing over criminal elements to the security agencies.
The council pleaded for government support, saying that despite all its efforts to assist in the fight against banditry, the government remain unsupportive.
This was disclosed during an exclusive interview with DAILY POST in Gusau, the State capital by Commander, Suleiman Lawali Zurmi who lamented that the Zamfara government has not provided any mobility to assist it.
“We have been doing our best by arresting and handing over some arrested criminal elements to the security agencies and our efforts are not being recognized by the State government”.
He said a series of letters have been written to the State Governor through the State House of Assembly, calling on him to consider the efforts being put in place by hunters in securing the State but all to no avail.
“Everything we are doing at present is on individual efforts by our members. And we have been chasing bandits even to their enclaves with personal vehicles without the support of the State government”
He lamented that the command has no official vehicle to operate with and that the State House of Assembly has remained unconcerned, even though the general public relies very much on the command.
“We are hunters and know the nooks and crannies of the forests where the bandits are operating from and we have been confronting them with our locally fabricated weapons and they are very much afraid of us as hunters”
Zurmi urged the State government to assist the hunters in the state track down unrepentant bandits, noting that the hunters could be of great help to the federal and State governments in the fight against banditry.
