Zamfara banditry: Buhari orders security agents to shoot civilians with AK-47 rifles
…Alleges arms for gold exchange in Zamfara
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed security agents to shoot any civilian seen with AK-47 rifle.
The President’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu disclosed this in an interview with the BBC aired on Wednesday.
Shehu added that the president has directed a clampdown on bandits who have refused to surrender.
“We are resorting to lethal force in order to rid Zamfara and other northern states of bandits.
“The president has ordered security forces to go into the bushes and shoot whoever they see with sophisticated weapons like AK-47.
“He ordered that whoever is seen with terrible weapons at all should be shot immediately,” Shehu disclosed in the BBC interview.
In a tweet Abdulbaki Jari, the Social Media Producer for BBC Hausa service, quoted the Presidential spokesman to have made this comment while speaking to BBC Hausa.
The Social Media Producer for BBC Hausa service tweeted: “Zamfara kidnappings: President Buhari has ordered that anybody caught with AK-47/sophisticated weapons in Nigeria should be shot – Garba Shehu tells BBC Hausa,” the tweet added.
Meanwhile, this is coming barely 24-hours after the Federal Government led by President Buhari declared Zamfara state a no-fly-zone. The President also announced a ban on all mining activities in Zamfara state to curb the rising insecurity in the area.
The presidency has declared that there is a strong suspicion that bandits use Helicopters to transport arms in Zamfara state, Northwest region, Nigeria.
The Senior Special Assistant to The President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu disclosed this while defending the Zamfara State no-fly zone order given by the president.
The presidency also noted that there were strong suspicions that gold was being swapped for arms by criminal elements operating in the state.
He said, “Even in Zamfara, there is a strong suspicion that some of those choppers are being used to ferry arms for bandits and also to evacuate gold and illegally smuggled out of the country, so the country loses everything in the mining.
“As you are aware, the Nigerian gold market is a big business and the government wants to do two things at the same time by doing this; end banditry and economic sabotage through the smuggling of gold.”
