Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state has justified the airstrikes carried out on some suspected bandits’ camps in Dumburum village in Zurmi LGA of the state which allegedly left some villagers dead.
According to Yari, those killed during the aerial bombardment of the village were bandits and not innocent residents as earlier claimed by the council of chiefs in the state.
The governor said the state government will not apologize over the alleged killing of innocent people, insisting that the air force only attacked hideouts of bandits in Dumburum.
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“As far as I am concerned and as the head of government in the state, l haven’t seen anything wrong done by the air force, l haven’t received any brief on such matter,” Yari said when a 7-man investigation team visited him at his Talata-Mafara private residence.
“Dumburum has been a criminal hideout for over three years and the Emir of Zurmi has once asked me to go and wipe out the area saying all those residing there were bandits, so l am surprised that the emir will be part of those saying innocent people were killed in an encounter in the area,” he said.
The governor who said some powers were working against the state, maintained that “some people will stay in Abuja and fabricate things against the operations in Zamfara in order to distract the operation, this we must not allow.
“Please, all security agencies especially the air force should continue with your usual constitutional duties and the state government will give you all the support to facilitate your concentration in trying to bring back peace which has eluded the state since 2007.
“You should continue with fire power to show the criminals that there is a government in place and we won’t negotiate with them again because when we did that in the past, the leaders pretended as if all was well while they allowed their boys to continue to lay siege on the communities.”
Handing over a letter of condolence to the governor from the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar, the team leader, AVM Idi Lubo said it was part of the chief’s concern in case the allegations were true.
He said, “the Chief of Air Staff has directed us to properly investigate the matter in order to unravel the truth.
“We have visited other stakeholders and discovered that there was a misinformation which we have now resolved and wish to assure the people of the state that we shall continue to discharge our assigned responsibilities in protecting the innocent with professionalism,” said the governor.