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Mr. Celestine Okoye, the Zamfara state Commissioner of Police, said on Wednesday that the main reason for persistent terror attacks in the state was due to reprisal attacks between Fulani and Hausa people.
    The state police boss disclosed this at a one-day stakeholders’ forum in Gusau with the theme: the prevention and management of mass atrocities in Zamfara state which was organised by Centre For Community Excellence (CENCEX) in collaboration with Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) Okoye added that tribalism, nepotism and sectionalism have been identified as the main cause militating against peace and harmony in the state, saying that these three factors have been igniting fire that is trying to consume the entire northwest state. Sometimes, if the blood thirsty Fulani people unleash terror attacks on some Hausa communities, the Hausa people would be forced to retaliate and the Fulani people would again go for reprisal attacks, the police boss said.

    The commissioner noted that tribalism, nepotism and sectionalism have to be stopped permanently, stressing that everybody is aware of how many thousands of innocent lives tribalism, nepotism and sectionalism have wasted in the country. Okoye, who was represented by his Assistant in charge of Operations, ACP Muhammad Lawal said that nobody is above the law of the land, pointing out that the command has concluded all necessary arrangements to carry war to the den of the armed bandits and kidnappers in the state. We are working in synergy with other sister security agencies to ensure that we repel any activities of the notorious armed bandits and kidnappers,” he said, adding that the security operatives would do every thing within their power to burst their syndicate. The police commissioner urged traditional leaders, religious leaders and community based leaders to join forces with the security agencies to uproot the ugly situation, by educating their subjects for effective positive change. In his own speech, the vice chairman of Tsafe local government area of Zamfara state, Hon. Aliyu Yanusa Danjibga explained that over 7,000 people mainly women and children have been rendered homeless since 2011 as a result of armed banditry in the local government area of the state. He urged security agencies, including the military, to redouble their efforts and return the state to normalcy.