The Situation Room on Monitoring the War Against Banditry has urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately declare a state of emergency in Zamfara State, accusing Governor Dauda Lawal of complicity in the state’s spiralling banditry crisis.
The group alleged that Lawal is using state funds to carter for bandits in his state, emboldening criminals and betraying the trust of ordinary citizens.
The group’s fury was sparked by a viral video in which Governor Lawal admitted to knowing the precise locations of bandit leaders terrorising the state
Patriot Henry Abba, the group’s convener, at a press conference condemned this as a “shocking, heartbreaking, a betrayal of trust, a failure of leadership, and a dangerous signal to every Nigerian who still believes in the rule of law.”
He labelled Lawal’s words a “confession of complicity,” arguing that his failure to share this intelligence with security agencies has left Zamfara a “graveyard” synonymous with death, destruction, and broken dreams.
Abba described Zamfara’s suffering in vivid terms, with communities ravaged by abductions, killings, and displacement.
Despite receiving “₦600 million monthly in security votes,” Lawal’s claim of powerlessness was deemed “irresponsible on many levels” and a move that “demoralises our soldiers” and “insults the memory of those who have died defending our country.”
The group rejected efforts by Lawal’s loyalists to frame his remarks as a cry for help, with Abba asserting, “This is not a cry for help. It is a confession of complicity.
“It is an admission that he knows where the killers live, yet chooses to remain passive while his people bleed.”
Abba questioned why Lawal has not provided evidence of sharing these “known locations with the necessary or relevant security agencies that in turn, failed to act on the shared intelligence.”
The group further accused Lawal of allowing local government chairmen to operate from Gusau, alleging that “allocations meant for developing the grassroots through the local governments somewhat found their way into private pockets.”
Some suspect the governor’s video was a political stunt, with Abba noting a “fringe postulation” that Lawal’s “video theatrics were politics taken too far” to “demonise the government at the center” and mask his administration’s failure to govern Zamfara’s ungoverned spaces.
He called this a “confirmation that what we have in Zamfara state is a leadership that has lost its moral compass and raison d’être.”
The Situation Room urged President Tinubu to halt Zamfara’s federal allocations pending a “full investigation” into Lawal’s handling of security funds and intelligence.
They demanded a joint probe by the EFCC, DSS, and the National Security Adviser to determine “whether public funds have been misused or diverted,” alongside a National Assembly hearing to hold the governor accountable.
The group also pressed for “protection for whistleblowers and victims who may have been silenced or ignored” and urged “strong consideration of the declaration of a state of emergency in Zamfara State” if Lawal is found to have enabled criminal networks.
