The Centre for Community Excellence, (CENCEX) and Human Rights Agenda Network in Zamfara State has cried out over the escalating insecurity in the state, describing it as a threat to national security
The group further lamented that the ongoing violent killings, kidnappings, and violation of human rights in communities of Zamfara and neighboring States had become so unbearable.
Addressing newsmen in Gusau, the State capital, on Tuesday, to mark the National Day of Mourning and Remembrance of victims of Mass Atrocities in the State, the Executive Director CENCEX and State Coordinator, Human Rights Agenda Network (HRAN), Adamu Abubakar Kotorkoshi lamented that insecurity had continued unabated in the state.
“This situation is rapidly spiraling into a national catastrophe threatening the very fiber of nationhood.
“The resolution for a National Day of Mourning was consequent upon the resolutions reached by over 100 civil society actors on 30th April, 2018, in Abuja, to undertake a National Day of Mourning as a symbolic action capable of registering citizens’ dissatisfaction with the state of our national security, since protests no longer seem to impact the conscience of our political elites,” he said.
According to them, the citizens are feeling much pain and concern as they mark the National Day of mourning in remembrance of all victims of violent killings across the country.
“The incessant security challenge has become a threat to human life in Zamfara and neighboring states. The situation has become a subject of national security and public concern
“The multifaceted layers of criminality involved, and recurrent nature of the armed banditry calls for effective mechanisms to mitigate the threat it poses to peace and security in Zamfara State.
“It is so disheartening how people are being kidnapped and their families asked to pay ransom in a country where we have elected representatives.
“Agriculture being the major source of income and livelihood in Zamfara State has been crippled and nothing seems to be working.
“A government is created within a government, where citizens are forced to pay farming levies to have access to their farmlands.
“The criminal activities perpetuated by the armed bandits in Zamfara State have heightened the vulnerability of women and girls in the region,” he lamented.
He decried that some women in the affected communities were faced with early widowhood or death of their children, while some children were orphaned and forced to flee their villages for safety.
“This remains a critical human security concern as they also suffer varied forms of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) as several cases of rape by bandits were reported in Zamfara. This is no longer unacceptable,” the group further stated.
It said, “As an organization committed to the protection of human rights and the dignity of human life, we join all concerned voices in Zamfara State and around the country to condemn the continued invasion of the Zamfara communities, North-West, and other parts of Nigeria by terrorists.
“We consider this act of terrorism an affront on the territorial integrity of the Nigerian state and a threat to its national security that must not be allowed to spread any further.”
Groups laments escalating insecurity, mass atrocities ravaging Zamfara
