The Emir of Anka in Zamfara State, Attahiru Ahmaddi disclosed that more than 100 miners working between Anka and Maru LGAs in the state were kidnapped by bandits on March 2.
Ahmad, chairman of the state council of chiefs, confirmed this in Gusau, the Zamfara capital, on Tuesday when Lucky Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), led service chiefs on an appraisal visit to the state.
The Emir disclosed that the incident occurred when the state was tacking the rescue of the 279 students kidnapped on February 26, from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe.
Ahmad also confirmed that the bandits eliminated 10 persons during an attack of a mining site in Zamfara.
“The bandits have been invading those involved in artisanal mining and nabbing away their money and property,” he said.
“There is a disconnect between miners and gunmen in the state, so we were shocked when the announcement of ‘no-fly zone’ was recently disclosed on our state over suspected arms migration and illegal mining when the state does not even have an airport.
“We know that there are states with more security issues than Zamfara, and we concluded that if such declaration would be slammed, it should also cover such states.
“Our artisanal miners, who are licensed, have been very helpful and useful to the state’s economic growth and they have played remarkable roles in eroding the hardship faced by IDPs in the state by supporting them.”
The traditional ruler requested the deployment of more security operatives to the state and commended the peace initiative of the Zamfara government.
“The peace and dialogue initiative of our governor has become necessary because, at the moment, we have less than 5,000 security men fighting over 30,000 bandits,” he said.
He, however, called for harmony among security operatives to ensure victory in the fight against criminal activities in Zamfara.
