Zamfara Assembly Rejects Buhari’s ‘No-Fly Zone’ Order

President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration of Zamfara State as a ‘no-fly zone’ has been rejected by lawmakers in the state’s House of Assembly.

Buhari, who made the declaration to curb rising insecurity in the state, also approved the ban of all mining activities in the state.

A no-fly zone is an area over which aircraft are forbidden to fly or a territory where military power had been established.

The National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (retd.), had disclosed on Tuesday that the president’s decision was aimed at tackling the state’s security challenges.

The declaration followed the release of 279 schoolgirls abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School, Jangabe, by alleged bandits.

But at a plenary on Thursday, the Zamfara lawmakers rejected the move and passed a vote of no confidence on the NSA.

The House of Assembly’s spokesperson, Mustapha Kaura, was quoted by Daily Trust as saying the lawmakers blamed the NSA’s “nonchalant attitude and poor handling of protracted security challenges” for recent unrests in the state.

The lawmakers noted that Zamfara was not the only state where schoolchildren had been kidnapped, citing previous incidents in Chibok, Borno State, Dapchi in Yobe State, Kankara in Katsina State and Kagara in Niger State.