The House of Representatives on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to deploy more troops to Zurmi and Shinkafi local government areas of Zamfara due to the increasing spate of insecurity in the affected areas.
The resolution was sequel to a motion under matters of urgent public importance by Hon. Abubakar Moriki at the plenary presided over by Speaker Yakubu Dogara.
In his lead debate, Moriki, who represents Shinkafi/Zurmi Federal Constituency, lamented that the security situation in the two local government areas had worsened.
According to him, cases of banditry, kidnapping for ransom and armed robbery were on the increase, in the affected areas and occurring almost on a daily basis.
He said: “The House is informed that no fewer than thirty persons were kidnapped in the last one month, including two minors of ten and eleven years of age and two female twins of marriage age in Zurmi and Shinkafi local government areas.”
He said in Zurmi local government area, Dauran, Moriki, Birnin Tsaba, Kabaka and Dorayyi were among the towns and villages affected by the mayhem, while in Shinkafi local government area, Jangeru, Badarawa, Galadi, Shinkafi, Katsira, Baje were also affected.
He said: “The House is informed that on Friday October 26, bandits invaded the town of Gurbin Bore in Zurmi local government area between the hours of 21:00 and 23:00 in the night and killed six persons, including a police personnel; burnt down about seventeen shops and houses, in addition to about thirteen motor vehicles of various types, five motorbikes and destroyed several other property.
“The House acknowledged that the Federal Government took far-reaching decisions by deploying Special Forces through presidential intervention resulting in tremendous decrease in cases of village/town banditry attacks.
“However, regrettably, this tempo was not sustained. Thus, these bandits regrouped and were now in various locations embarking on kidnapping for ransom, armed robbery and pockets of deadly attacks on villages and towns.
“The House also acknowledged that the Zamfara State Government had put substantial efforts in trying to complement the efforts of the Federal Government through the provision of necessary logistics to the security personnel resident in the state in order to enhance their operations.
“Indeed, about N15 billion was expended between 2011 and 2017 by the State Government in the provision of motor vehicles, motorbikes, equipment, financial support, etc, to the security agencies in the state.”
Moriki, who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Industry, said it was however disheartening that the gesture did not translate into ensuring the much-needed peace in the state.
Contributing to the debate, Hon. Yakubu Bade reiterated the need for the procurement of drones to enable proper surveillance in the affected areas.
He advised that the issue be taken seriously in order to guard against its spread to the entire nation.
When Dogara put the motion to voice vote the lawmakers unanimously endorsed it.
The House directed the National Emergency Management Agency to, as a matter of urgency provide relief materials to the affected communities in order to salvage them from the predicament in which they found themselves.
The speaker, therefore, referred the matter to the House Committee on Defence for further legislative action.