Terror-troubled Zamfara State has upscaled measures to combat banditry, with the recruitment and deployment of Community Protection Guards (CPG) to all the Emirates of the state.
Governor Bello Mohammed Matawallen said Saturday, 2nd June, while flagging-off the training of the newly recruited Community Protection Guards CPG, that their recruitment is one of the critical measures taken to combat the bandits.
He said the decision to establish Community Protection Guards was informed by his administration’s desire to work out all possible options to deal with the increasing act of bandity causing loss of lives, untold hardships and rupturing intercommunal peace in some parts of the state.
Governor Bello Matawalle told the Guards to approach the task ahead of them with zeal and committment after the training.
“As community protection guards, yours is a patriotic call. Your names would stand out in history as people with remarkable patriotism, selflessness and love for peace,” Matawalle said, noting, “only people with courage and bravery will you offer to serve as guards of your communities, bravely standing up to face the brutal infamy of the bandits.”
The Governor also called on them to work within the parameters of the rules of engagement which will be clearly spelt out during the training, pointing out that, they are agents for the restoration of normalcy, building peace and re-enactment of the golden era of harmonious intercommunal relationship in the Northern part of the country.
He said at the end of the training, the CPG members would be deployed to their various communities in the 19 Emirate Councils of the state to complement the efforts of the security forces in the fight against banditry and sundry crimes.
The governor charged them to maintain discipline and obedience throughout the exercise and to keep in mind that they were trained for a life-saving mission to restore the dignity of human life and peaceful co-existance in the state.
In his keynote remarks, the Commissioner of Police, Zamfara State Police Command, CP Ayuba Elkana, expressed the command’s full support to Governor Matawalle in the fight against banditry, urging the CPG recruits to always be law abiding, God-fearing and objective in the discharge of their duties in order to achieve the desired goals.
Earlier, the Commissioner of Security and Home Affairs, Rtd DIG Mamman Ibrahim Tsafe, said the establishment of the Community Protection Guards was aimed at assisting the security agencies in securing the state from all henious crimes in all parts of the state
The occasion was attended by the Speaker, Zamfara State House of Assembly, Rt Honourable Nasiru Muazu Magarya, Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Kabiru Balarabe, Chief of Staff Government House Gusau, Malam Ibrahim Suleiman, State Head of Service, Alhaji Kabiru Muhammad Gayari, members of the State Executive Council and heads of security agencies serving in the state.
