The Secretary, Zamfara State Volunteers Groups Association, Alhaji Sani Labaran, has said the association will not stop killing bandits terrorising the state unless stringent measures are taken by the government to stop banditry in the state.
The state government had warned volunteer groups against extrajudicial killings, vowing to deal with anybody caught in the act.
But Labaran, who on Friday spoke during a meeting with the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Usman Nagogo, said no amount of persuasion or threat would make them to drop their weapons and stop fighting bandits as long as the murderous gangsters did not stop killing people in the state.
He said, “When the state government invited us for a reconciliation meeting, we wholeheartedly agreed to give up the fight against bandits and also surrendered more than 9,000 weapons in anticipation that the bandits too would surrender theirs and embrace peace. But unfortunately, they have continued to kill our people.
“We are going to defend ourselves and fight back, no matter what is going to happen.”
Labaran added, “It would be very unfair for the security agencies to ask us to stop fighting bandits while they cannot give us adequate protection.
“We will drop our weapons whenever the bandits are chased out of our state.”
Nagogo warned the volunteer groups against taking the law into their own hands by carrying arms and fighting criminals.