Shinkafi petitions IGP, DSS, demands Yari’s arrest

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate for the 2019 Zamafara State governorship election, Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police demanding the immediate arrest and prosecution the former governor of the state, Abdulaziz Yari, over what he described as incitement and threat to the fragile peace of Zamfara.

Shinkafi, in the letter to the IGP also copied the Chief Of Army Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Chief Of Naval Staff, the Director-General Department of State Services (DGSS) and the National Security Adviser, stated that if Yari is not brought to book soon he would set Zamfara State ablaze and rubbish all the peace efforts of the Governor Bello Matawalle-led government.

According to him, “following the unguarded and provocative statements credited to the former Zamfara governor, where he incited members of his faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to move against the state government.

“I hereby demand the immediate arrest and prosecution of the former governor of Zamfara State, Yari for disobeying the subsisting order of the security agencies banning any form of public gatherings, political parties meetings and associations, Rallies, across the State.

“It is on record that about 8500 private militia popularly called Yansakai were recruited illegally by the past administration in all the 17 Emirates through his former commissioner without any Bill passed by State House Assembly establishing the vigilante service group and assent by the governor as a law governing recruitment and operations of Yansakai,” he claimed.

Shinkafi further pointed out that “it is still fresh in our memory … the arrest, abduction, torture and killing of innocent citizens in the markets, streets, and with bodies lying on the streets and nobody could stop them from the jungle justice that went on in the whole of Zamfara State during the immediate past administration.
“Yari has being seen publicly inciting his factional APC members not to recognize the administration of Matawalle as the Executive Governor of Zamfara State but insisted that they called him a sole administrator.

“Severally, he has rejected the May 24, 2019 Judgement of the Supreme Court of Nigeria painting the eminent jurists of the Apex court with all kinds of names. There are weighty allegations that the former governor is planning with these unrepentant armed bandits to disrupt the peace accord in the state,” he added.

Shinkafi also noted that “the defunct volunteer vigilante groups, Yansakai, loyal toYari have refused to embrace the disarmament and arms control programme of the State government to augment the peace accord initiated by Governor Matawalle.

“There are intelligence reports that Yansakai recruited in Gummi had concluded plans to attack some Fulani settlements to ignite another security breach in the State and set the State on fire again.