TheCable

Bello Matawalle, governor of Zamfara, says all states in Nigeria need to adopt dialogue and reconciliation to tackle banditry and other security challenges.

There have been attacks on communities and schools across the country and especially in the northern region, which have led to abductions and killings.

Speaking with NAN on Thursday, Matawalle said dialogue with bandits yielded peaceful results for the state.

“As I have mentioned earlier, the issue of insecurity is not just one man’s business; it is for all of us,” he said.

“Whether you are a security agent, a normal citizen or anybody, what is important is for all of us to come together and make this issue our own and confront it squarely.

“When I assumed duty as the Zamfara governor, I know that before the first 100 days, we achieved a lot on our part which was not been achieved for the past six years.

“This was achieved because I called everyone to be involved and issues were discussed. Stakeholders were invited who were political leaders, traditional institution and other security heads. We put heads together and that is why we initiated the issue of dialogue and reconciliation with the bandits and this yielded a lot of results in the state.

“Every state needs to adopt this initiative to have a peaceful country. Once we come together as one and have one stand, I believe it will work for us.”

The Zamfara governor also kicked against secession, and appealed to Nigerians to live together as one.

“I also want to appeal to Nigerians that God does not make mistakes and he made Nigeria for us to live together,” he said.

“Let’s find out what the problem is first, that is, let us find out the root of this problem then, we can now know how to solve this problem.

“Nigeria is very versatile; someone cannot just come in a day and say let us break up. Not possible!

“The only thing we need now is to sit down and analyse what the problem is. This is better than saying we should divide.”