Who Will Save Residents of Anka LG?

The anguish in over 20 communities in Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara State has been on for over one year. Hundreds of people have been killed by bandits without appropriate response from security agencies. The communities worse affected include Bawar Daji, Kuru-kuru and Jarkuka. It is excruciating. Residents have been fleeing their homes in droves to avoid being attacked by the bandits. As usual, this government has failed to perform its constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property in these communities. The Emir of Anka, Muhammad Attahiru Ahmed, said many villages in his domain have become ghost villages, with many fleeing into the town centre. Those still staying back are now living in fear following incessant attacks by bandits. The Emir who spoke through the Waziri of Anka Emirate, Muhammad Inuwa, lamented that the bandits again attacked Kuru-kuru and Jarkuka villages last week, killing 26 innocent people with threat of more attacks.

“These bandits usually announce the schedule for their attacks before visiting any of the targeted village in their list. This is why Anka Local Government’s headquarters has become overpopulated. Security agencies fail to protect the people but only provide security for the burial of those killed,” the Emir lamented. Federal government’s failure to tackle banditry in Ankar has left him depressed. Emir Attahiru Ahmed is in search of a miracle and has since ordered a three-day mourning and fasting to seek God’s intervention in his domain.

Federal government’s lethargy aside, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State has been of little help to the devastated people of Ankar. Globetrotting Yari is hardly in Zamfara. His frequent trips abroad are evidently impacting negatively on the day-to-day running of the government. That was why elder statesman, Saidu Dansadau, petitioned Buhari, asking him to declare a state of emergency in Zamfara State. Yari’s tenure is riddled with controversy. Many will not forget in a hurry how he viciously killed moves by legislators to impeach him last year. He simply got operatives of the Department of State Service to harass the leaders of the lawmakers. As Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Yari is notorious for doling out fees to ghost consultants.