Zamfara monarch suspended for ‘conniving’ with bandits

The Zamfara state government has suspended the District Head of Kuran Mota, in Bungudu local government area of the state, Alhaji Marafa Ibrahim, following alleged connivance with the dreaded armed bandits terrorising the area.
The state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Bello Dankande Gamji, disclosed this in a statement issued to newsmen in Gusau, yesterday.
According to the statement, a committee, headed by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Malam Haruna Salau, has been constituted to ascertain the veracity of the allegations brought against the traditional ruler and report back in one week.
“The committee is mandated to work assiduously and find the fact of the matter and submit to the ministry in one week for the next line of action to be taken by the state government against the district head,” the commissioner contended.
If found wanting, Gamji said, the district head will face the full wrath of the law without fear or favour.
Blueprint reports that the accused district head has already been apprehended by the police for proper investigation into the matter.
Troops storm hideouts And in a related development, the troops of 1 Division, Nigerian Army (1 Div NA) under Operation Whirl Punch, yesterday, said they have raided bandits’ camps on a location near Jumu Village in Chukun local government area of Kaduna state.
The location, according to the troops, was being used as a ‘staging area’ to perpetrate criminalities along Kaduna – Abuja road.
This was contained in a statement issued in Gusau, and signed by the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 1 Division, Nigerian Army, Colonel Muhammad Dole.
He said the bandits fled the area on sighting the troops, adding that after ransacking the hideouts, one AK47 rifle, one locally made pistol and one fabricated dane gun were recovered.
Similarly, Colonel Dole noted that the troops responded to a distress call on the activities of suspected cattle rustlers in Gwagwada village also in Chukun council.
While on the pursuit, one cattle rustler was arrested and forty nine (49) rustled cows were recovered.
The troops also assured the general public of their determination to continue to dominate the Kaduna – Abuja and Kaduna – Birnin Gwari general areas with patrols and raids on the suspected bandits’ routes and hideouts.