The Zamfara State government has disowned a letter being circulated on social media showing that the state government was in the process of paying N1.3 billion to leaders of bandits and their media promoters as part of efforts aimed at tackling insecurity in the state.
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In a telephone conversation with The Guardian, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Mustapha Jafaaru, said the state government has no plans to negotiate with bandits in the spirit of reconciliation for restoration of peace in the state.
  
“There are some bad elements in the state that are not happy with the move of the governor on not negotiating with bandits. So, they must have concocted the story of settling bandits including forging the signature of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in the illegal memo,” Jafaaru said.
 
Already, the SSG has debunked the alleged plans to settle the leaders of bandits in an attempt to make peace to reign in Zamfara State. The purported memo from the SSG to the state governor, Dauda Lawal, was said to have sought approval for N200 million each to be paid to bandits leaders that included Kachalla Dogo Gide, Kachalla Bello Turji, Ado Alero, while N150 million was to be paid to Kachalla Halilu Sububu and Gwaska Dan Karami respectively.
 
Also, some media organisations were penciled down to benefit from the financial allocations ranging from N20 million to N158 million. Debunking the content of the letter, the SSG, Alhaji Abubakar Nakwada, said: “The purpose of this press briefing is to address yet another false information in circulation, alleging that the Zamfara State government gave or is planning to give some notorious bandits and media promoters some huge amount of money under the guise of reconciliation efforts from the State Security Trust Fund.”

He noted that to set the records straight, the purported memo allegedly said to have originated from his office to the governor is entirely fake and mischievous. He reiterated that the Zamfara State government under Lawal had consistently announced its firm stance against negotiating with bandits.