On Tuesday, hundreds of frustrated women and youths from Zamfara State staged a protest at the Department of State Services (DSS) headquarters in Abuja, demanding action over the escalating insecurity in the state.
The protesters held the former governor of Zamfara and current Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, responsible for the surge in banditry, accusing him of having ties with the bandits during his tenure.
The demonstrators, who arrived in approximately 12 buses at 10:15 am, were blocked from entering the premises of the security agency.
The protest comes one month after the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the state, to allow the fight against banditry to succeed.
Waving placards that read: ‘We are dying’ and ‘DSS, save us from bandits,’ the protesters urged the DSS Director General, Adeola Ajayi, to intervene.
Addressing journalists, the leader of the demonstrators, Mallam Musa Mahmud, expressed disappointment that President Bola Tinubu had not sacked Matawalle as minister, despite the evidence presented by Governor Dauda Lawal.
Mahmud, who is also the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Akida Forum, pleaded that Matawalle should be probed and not given a soft landing owing to his loyalty to the President.
He said, “The issues here are not just political problems. They are matters of life and death, economic survival, and the fundamental human rights of the citizens of Zamfara State that should not be handled lightly.
“We want the DSS to conduct a thorough investigation to save millions of Nigerians and safeguard the integrity of the President and the intelligence community.
“The agency is in the best position to advise President Tinubu to relieve Matawalle of his position, to face an investigative panel, and clarify his connections with dangerous individuals like Bello Tagoji, Musa Kamarawa, and Ardon Zuru.
“These are not abstract concerns. Zamfara citizens have the right to live free from the constant threat of banditry and violence.
These issues should be at the forefront of any reasonable Nigerian who means well for the country.”
When contacted, Matawalle’s media aide, Ahmad Dan-Wudil, did not pick up several calls put through to his line and was yet to respond to the message sent to him on the allegations against his principal at the time of going to press.
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