Banditry: Northern Governors Sign MoU With Niger Republic To Stop Killings, Kidnappings

The governors of Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara States have jointly
signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Governor of Maradi
region in the Niger Republic on best approaches to addressing the
security challenges in their states.

This was contained in a statement by Yusuf Idris, the Director-General
of Press Affairs to the governor of Zamfara.

He said the meeting was called at the instance of the Maradi governor,
Zakari Oumoru.

Idris added that the meeting was attended by Governors Bello Matawalle
(Zamfara), Aminu Masari (Katsina) and Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto).
According to him, the meeting held at the Government House, Maradi,
dwelt on trans-border crimes, especially banditry, kidnappings, and
cattle rustling in the four states which share common borders.

The statement noted that the participating states agreed to maintain
good neighbourliness and cooperation among themselves, while jointly
addressing the issue of security.

He said that the MoU agreed to uphold the renewed efforts of the three
Nigerian states and Maradi of the Niger Republic in stopping banditry
within their borders.

Other areas covered by the MoU included their resolve to join hands in
the fight against banditry, cattle rustling, kidnapping, and armed
robbery within the affected borders for the purpose of having peaceful
states.

In his speech at the meeting, Matawalle described peace, dialogue, and
reconciliation as necessary tools of curbing the insecurity situation
in the four states.

He explained that his administration had adopted dialogue with bandits
after very wide consultations and later created contacts with men of
the underworld, which led to a joint meeting with all the groups.

The governor further said that the peace process had yielded positive
results, as peace had since returned to the state.