13th July, 2019
Zamfara State Police Command has refuted allegations of bandit attack on witnesses at the Presidential Election Tribunal for the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
Atiku’s lawyers had said the witnesses were attacked while travelling to Abuja to testify against the election of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The command denied claims by the witnesses they were attacked by bandits in Zamfara state, a situation, it was claimed, that forced them to scamper into the bush and stopped their journey to the Supreme Court to testify for the former Vice President.
In a statement by SP Muhammad Shehu, the command explained: “It is pertinent to categorically state that as far the crime statistics of Zamfara state is concerned, there was no any attack by bandits either on villages or on any person or group of persons traveling on any highway in the state.
“Since the inception of the ongoing peace and dialogue initiative in the the state, attacks, kidnapping and other heinous crime in the state have been reduced drastically to about 98 percent, a situation that has restored peace and stability in the state.”
Shehu claimed unprecedented achievements have been recorded through the rescue of over 100 persons kidnapped and held in captivity for months through the initiatives of Commissioner of Police Usman Nagogo.
“Therefore, the command wishes to refute the entire story as misleading and a calculated attempt to undermine the current effort of both the state government and the police to bring lasting peace for social and economic development in the state,” the statement added.
The command appealed to media organisations to verify their information before publication.
*Read the full statement:
RE- TRIBUNAL ADJOURNS AS BANDITS ATTACK PDP, ATIKU’S WITNESSES
The attention of Zamfara State Police Command has been drawn to the above captioned story published by one of the national dailies of Saturday 13th July, 2019, in which some witnesses who were traveling to Abuja from Zamfara claimed to have been attacked by bandits, a situation that forced them to scampered into the bush.
It is pertinent to categorically state that , as per the crime statistics of Zamfara state is concern, there was no any attack by bandits either on villages or on any person or group of persons traveling on any highway in the state. Since the inception of the ongoing peace and dialogue initiative in the the state, attacks, kidnapping and other heinous crime in the state have been reduced drastically to about 98 percent. A situation that restored peace and stability in the state. The rescue of over 100 persons who were kidnapped and held in captivity for months by the Commissioner of police CP Usman Nagogo psc+, is another indication that the ongoing peace process of the command is working assidously.
Therefore, the command wishes to refute the entire story as misleading and a calculated attempt to undermine the current effort of both the state government and the police to bring lasting peace for social and economic development in the state. The command uses this medium to appeal to media organizations to verify their information before publication.
SP Mohammed shehu,
Police Public Relations Officer,
For:- Commissioner of Police
Zamfara state command
Gusau.