Police redeploy DPO over alleged ties with bandits

Zamfara State Police Command said it has redeployed the Divisional Police officer of Kaura Namoda Division over alleged ties with bandits in the state.

Zamfara police spokesman Mohammed Shehu in a statement said the redeployment was in response to a video trending on social media platforms wherein the communities of Kungurki village of Kaura Namoda LGA accused the DPO of conniving with recalcitrant armed bandits who were making the lives of the citizens unbearable.

Shehu said the available records of the command revealed no formal complaint against the DPO in respect of the allegation and distanced him from the claims.

“The DPO as a custodian of peace and tranquility has the mandate to interact and engage the two warring Hausa and Fulani bandits communities to a dialogue so as to strengthen the ongoing peace process of the state government,” Shehu said.

However, the police enjoined members of the public especially the aggrieved community that any person or group with credible evidence against the DPO should report to the Police Command Headquarters and assist in the ongoing investigation.

“The Commissioner of Police has urgently redeployed the DPO back to the Police Command Headquarters as OC Provost. While ASP Umar Abdullah has been appointed as acting DPO of the Division,” Shehu said.

In recent months, Zamfara has seen an uptick in the activities of criminal gangs. The rise in violent crimes has been linked to gold mining.

In February, 279 schoolgirls were kidnapped from their school in Jangebe. They were released weeks after.

The Nigerian Government banned all mining activities and declared a no-fly-zone in the state over allegations that small aircraft were being used to supply arms to criminal gangs.

“Even in Zamfara, there is a strong suspicion that some of those choppers are being used to ferry arms for bandits and also to evacuate gold and illegally smuggled out of the country, so the country loses everything in the mining,” a presidential spokesman Garba Shehu told DailyTrust in a chat.