Abdulaziz Yari, Zamfara State Governor has said he would gladly relinquish his position as governor to allow for declaration of state of emergency if necessary.
The governor who is serving out his second term in office, said he maintains this position, since politicians with factional interest have been instigating the presidency to impose a state of emergency in the state.
Yari who also doubles as Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, gave this indication on, shortly after having a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
He however debunked insinuations that his government was overwhelmed by the security challenges in the state, saying the situation is getting under control.
“Yes, we are there as a government because its lives of people we are talking about, if there are no lives we won’t be there, so therefore I did not make that statement out of politics because the way some other people are looking at it politically, since my inception I have never taken insecurity as a political affair.
“Rather, I view it as criminality and I approach it in the way that it can be solved, some other politicians have been calling for state of emergency since three years ago, then I said to myself if state of emergency would solve the problem then Yari is ready, “he stated.
Recall that Zamfara had in recent times been enmeshed in security crisis, with several citizens falling victims to banditry in the state.
The development partly necessitated the governor deposing some traditional rulers who were found culpable in the crisis bedeviling the State.
Asked about the reason for his presence at the Presidential Villa, he said he came to brief the President on latest measures being taken to quell the crisis.
He told State House Correspondents, “You are aware of what is happening in Zamfara state, and some part of the neighboring state on the issue of bandits, abduction and insurgency, so it’s important that I come forward to brief Mr President on the situation on ground which I just did.
” On our part, we sat down as head of security in the state and we invited all other stakeholders where we review the situation and came up with the report that we think will help the security agencies there through Mr President to strategies, so that they can curb the problem.
“Above all, the situation is calm now, as a state we are putting our best to ensure normalcy return, we have started getting results, we believe strongly with what we have on ground in terms of number of security personnel, if they take their job seriously within a short time we will get out of this situation and we hope with encouragement from the President we believe with no time the issues will be a thing of the past”
