Zamfara state Governor Bello Matawalle says the Federal Government does not deeply understand the security situation in the state before declaring a no-fly-zone.
The governor said this when he received Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi who paid him a solidarity over the abduction of 317 schoolgirls, who were freed by their captors early Tuesday morning.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday declared Zamfara State a no-fly-zone during the National Security Council meeting he chaired at the Presidential Vill, Abuja.
Announced by the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, Buhari said the measure was to bring the activities of bandits in the state, which has been the epic-centre of the criminals, to an end.
A no-fly-zone, also known as an air exclusion zone is a territory or area established by a military power over which certain aircraft are not permitted to fly. Aircraft that violate a no-fly zone may be shot down by the enforcing state, depending on the terms.
But Matawalle said: “It seems the Security Council doesn’t understand the nature of the security problems in Zamfara state but if they decided to take such action let them go ahead.
“I’m not afraid of anybody and the problem of insecurity in the state predated my administration.
“Nigerians are waiting to see the outcome of the Security Council resolution to see if these bandits would be crushed. If the federal government fails to crush them after this resolution, then Nigerians will understand that they only sat and served themselves tea, nothing more.”
Matawalle had said dialogue was the best option to end banditry, a strategy President Buhari recently faulted. Buhari had warned state governors, during a statement by his spokesperson Garba Shehu, to stop giving monies and vehicles to bandits in the name of negotiation.
