By Yusuf Idris
Zamfara State has been in the news for a very long time for a wrong reason. The once peaceful state assumed the notoriety of bandits’ headquarters following activities of some unscrupulous elements that held it by the jugular and forcing it on its knees for years. It became a killing field and at some point, even competing with Borno State in terms of casualty figures from the daily bloodletting.
It was a disturbing daily scenario that has hitherto haunted Nigeria as a nation and dented its image across its shores until Bello Matawalle came into the scene and turned the table against the marauders.
The governor adopted a conflict resolution mechanism centered on dialogue which culminated in a series of peace deals with overwhelming outcomes that drew accolades across the country. The Matawalle approach to ending age long violence was the game changer which conflict experts had long advocated and craved.
Conflicts analysts believed the military option birthed more reactionaries and exacerbated the crisis rather than addressing it. They contended that in order prevent violent conflict from arising, societies need to be able to address underlying conditions that generate grievances and conflict, such as poverty, inequity, discrimination, and social exclusion. “Dialogue is needed to develop sustainable approaches to societal challenges and to build a culture of democracy. It's an essential tool for breaking down barriers and building connections across the divides in society,” an expert had elucidated.
[15:06, 10/08/2020] Sola Access Magazine: This is possibly the reason why the dialogue option by Matawalle had elicited commendations; and as expected and predicted, the peace deal has been achieving the desired outcome with hundreds of bandits surrendering arms and denouncing violence. The deal opened access to markets, farms, schools which shut down at the peak of the offensive which left behind trails of death and destruction.
“We applied the peace accord as a means of honest solution to the problem in Zamfara State, which has yielded tremendous results never expected in the last one year.
“However, our honesty and focus in the deal saw the near total drop in banditry attacks which allowed our roads, markets, schools and farms to be re-opened. In the same vein, nearly 1000 persons were willingly released by the ex-bandits and thousands of dangerous weapons willingly surrendered without payment of a single kobo” the governor had observed in one of his attractions with newsmen.
Understandably, many especially within the security circle, were surprised by the unprecedented success the move recorded in the lingering problem that have hitherto defied all solutions especially as similar efforts to get the marauding insurgents terrorizing communities across the North East to a roundtable have consistently failed in the past.
The peace deal also saw the release of many persons held captive by the bandits through negotiations from the areas of Dansadau, Kaura Namoda and Shinkafi and other areas, while discussion was ongoing between the contact committee and leaders of the bandits. The next step for the dialogue after securing the release of all the captives was the commencement of disarmament and collection of all rifles and other sophisticated weapons from the hands of both local militants and bandits.
However, the deal was not without its hiccup especially that some recalcitrant bandits backed down and resorted to mayhem and incurring the wrath of the governor which deployed the stick approach against them.
The carrot and stick approach has been impactful so much so that repentant bandits have joined the crusade in riding the state of criminal elements by working with the security agencies in tracking them and bringing them to justice.
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