Year 2011-2019 will perhaps go down in history as one of the worst period in the hitherto quiet, peaceful northern state, Zamfara is known for.
The state was one of those peaceful states where Nigerians retire to at weekends to savour the air and enjoy good health even so in its capital, Gusau.
But on came the discovery of the natural resources of the state, an initiative of the government of the PDP which was in place much earlier.
But then came the APC and the maladministration that followed as the initiative to increase the wealth of the state and that of the country through the search for natural resources became an all comers affair.
The period went ahead to reveal the character of those that were in government house in the state and their various activities.
No sooner than the APC was in charge of Government House in Zamfara State, they reportedly sponsored all sorts of miners and foreigners to prevent accountability in the mining of the resources of the state.
Also, banditry became the order of the day as they allegedly sponsored their own friends to come and mine in the state and loot the treasures. And you dare not challenge them because those who reportedly did suffered for it. The state became that bad that kidnapping and all sorts of vices entered the state.
Zamfara State became a war zone! The lust for money, snowballed as one crime led to so many other crimes. A pure case of gold, blood and tears!
It was reported that is during the administration of former Governor Abdulazeez Yari, that more than 500,000 livestock were rustled, 6319 people were killed, 3672 persons were kidnapped and over N2.8 billion was paid as ransom.
A pathetic achievement for a government that met on ground, a peaceful state, a happy people and a flourishing, aspiring Nigerian state with high hopes to increase the nation’s GDP.
Yari reportedly fed his friends and cronies with the allegedly ill-gotten wealth and they fed fat and grew into big balloons with pot bellies that boasts of storey buildings!
They laughed with crudity and ruled with impudence making over 6000 women widows and 25,000 children orphans.
Those days were not good days. It was the days of evil. The days of terror when the strong stayed away from the ravished gold fields of Zamfara State, as the power base, the government house allegedly perpetuated its hold on the mining field.
He who was in charge of the bandits, was also in charge of the herdsmen and Boko Haram. And when there was a clash between these three terrorist groups, the Zamfara people suffered because their houses were over run, men killed, children maimed and more women made widows.
An insider squealed, saying may all parts if Nigeria that are presently dominated by Yari’s kind of government be delivered and replaced by a government like that of the incumbent government of Zamfara State led by Governor Muhammad Bello Matawalle.
No sooner than Governor Matawalle came into power, he identified the excesses of erstwhile Yari’s government and set about correcting all the nonsense that it was associated with.
Of course, Yari’s fair weather friends fled the state in their brigandage style. The people too had had enough of them.
Matawalle set about to reorganise the entire state for accountability and order. The bandits were told to drop their arms or leave the state. Killings and kidnapping were checkmated and above all, the mining resources of Zamfara State was handed over to the federal government as for the very first time, the Governor of the state made an official presentation to the President, the mining report of the resources of the state. And from that day, the resources of the state stopped going into private pockets.
But the thieves have refused to sleep! Their ill gotten wealth is drying up and they are fuming, eager to come back to kill and steal more wealth that belongs to the Zamfara people and to all of us.
They are busy trying in different ways to distract the incumbent government by sponsoring lies and deceit in newspapers and other public forum.
But let it be known that, the people of Zamfara state have said and sworn, that never again shall the thieves be allowed to come back.
Never again will APC return to loot the resources of Zamfara state. Never again will the reign of bloodshed return to Zamfara state. Never again and never again!
