Zamfara State Governor, Abdul’Aziz Yari, says he is ready for a state of emergency to ensure the safety of the residents and their property.
The governor disclosed this to State House correspondents on Thursday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Villa in Abuja.
“If the state of emergency will solve the problem, Yari is ready,” he said while answering questions relating to the security situation in Zamfara.
Yari explained that he would not hesitate to step aside from office if that would address the security challenges and restore peace in the state.
He made the comments following a series of attacks by bandits which claimed several lives and left many others injured with properties destroyed in some communities in the state.
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Amid calls for the declaration of a state of emergency in Zamfara, the governor told a news conference in Gusau on Thursday last week that he would do anything within his power to end insecurity in the state.
He, however, informed the State House correspondents in Abuja that the state government was working to tackle the attacks by bandits in different parts of Zamfara.
Governor Yari condemned the insinuations that he was being political with the security challenges in his state, stressing that he had always been on top of his game.
“We are there because life is there. If there is no life there, what is the essence of leadership?” he questioned, saying, “Therefore, I did not make (the statement) it out of politics; I am serious about it.”
He added, “The way some other people are talking about it politically; since my inception, I never looked at insecurity as political. But I look at it as criminality and I approach it in the way that can be solved.”
The governor assured the residents that activities of the criminals would not affect the conduct of the general elections in the state.
He blamed the killing of innocent people on the inadequate presence of police personnel in the state.
