Zamfara Holds Police Security Summit as Lawal Says No to Bandit Negotiations

Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State has made it clear that bandits who refuse peace and threaten innocent lives will face the law. The governor spoke during a three-day Northwest Security Summit organized by the Nigeria Police at the Government House in Gusau, which started on Wednesday.

The summit, themed 'Appraising the Security Challenges in the Northwest Region', was attended by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Rilwan Disu.

Leaders from the Nigeria Police, representatives from Northwest States, heads of security and intelligence agencies, traditional rulers, community leaders, and civil society groups all gathered for the summit.

While opening the summit, Governor Lawal praised the Inspector-General of Police and the Nigeria Police Force for organizing the event in Zamfara State.

He said, "This is significant because Zamfara remains at the frontline of the security challenges confronting the Northwest. It provides an appropriate setting for an honest assessment of our challenges and, more importantly, the development of practical solutions."

Lawal noted, "The Northwest’s security crisis exceeds isolated crimes. Organised networks conduct banditry, kidnapping, and cattle rustling across borders, threatening livelihoods, food security, education, investment, and the social fabric. The summit also highlights urban threats such as thuggery, substance abuse, and radical infiltration."

He added, "This reality demands moving beyond fragmented responses because criminal networks ignore state boundaries. Our security must operate cohesively. Intelligence in Zamfara can prevent attacks elsewhere, and operations nearby can disrupt threats in Zamfara."

The governor called for better systems for real-time intelligence sharing, coordinated operations, inter-state surveillance, community policing, and ongoing disruption of the financial and logistical networks that support organized crime.

"We must, therefore, challenge ourselves to leave Gusau not merely with another diagnosis of insecurity, but with actionable options."

Lawal urged the summit to come up with practical ways to cut off the supply chains of criminal networks and restrict their movements. He said, "Criminal enterprises rely on logistics including routes, markets, intermediaries, financiers, and networks."

He also raised operational questions: "How do we disrupt supply chains? How do we limit criminals’ mobility across forests, communities, and borders? How do we strengthen control over vulnerable corridors without harming legitimate commerce? And how do we identify and dismantle networks of informants and facilitators enabling crime?"

Earlier, Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu said security in the Northwest is a shared responsibility because the region is very important to Nigeria.

He stated, "We are combining states to tackle the issue of insecurity. We have come together, we police together, we share intelligence together. We have made up our minds to take the fight to these criminals. We have made up our minds to do this; that is why we summoned this summit."

Disu further assured, "As Inspector-General of Police, I assure you that the Nigeria Police Force will continue to deploy its capabilities, personnel and partnerships towards securing the region and supporting the efforts of State Governments and other security agencies. But we also recognise that policing is most effective when it is supported by the people."