A former Governor of Zamfara State, Ahmad Sani Yerima, has accused governments of past administrations of failing to meet the demands of bandits.
Yerima claimed that various state governments did not take care of the bandits such that the cattle routes and forest reserves were taken over by farmers hence their action.
He also pointed out that those involved in acts of banditry are doing so because of poverty and ignorance.
Yerima insisted that proper education would have dissuaded them from engaging in the nefarious act in the first place.
His words:
“No educated person, Christian Muslim, Jew or Hindu who is in his right state of mind and has something to do and does not have a poverty problem that will take up arms and kill an innocent person.
“The major problem facing these people is poverty and ignorance,” Yerima said when quizzed about the reason for the growing case of banditry.
He debunked speculations that the presence of natural resources such as gold played a significant part in the rise of banditry in his state.
He also dismissed what he described as “speculations” of the involvement of foreign corporations in the illegal trade of gold in the country.
