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NCAJ Urges Tinubu to Declare State of Emergency in Zamfara Over Escalating Insecurity
In response to the escalating security crisis in Zamfara State, the Northern Citizens Alliance for Justice (NCAJ) has called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately declare a state of emergency and appoint a non-partisan administrator to restore order and rebuild weakened institutions.
In a statement issued in Kaduna on Friday, the group’s president, Mallam Kabiru Sani Bako, described the situation in Zamfara as a “slow-burning war that the country is ignoring at its own peril.” He warned that no meaningful intervention could succeed unless power is taken away from political actors who, according to him, are benefiting from the unrest.
“The time has come for President Tinubu to step in—not with rhetoric, but with constitutional force,” Bako stated. “If this is not done now, we risk allowing Zamfara to become a permanent haven for terror cells. The country cannot afford to look away. Lives are being lost daily. And governance has already left the room.”
The group cited the total breakdown of governance and alleged complicity of the Zamfara State Government in criminal mining activities as key reasons for the call to invoke emergency rule.
“What we are witnessing in Zamfara State is not governance. It is organised abandonment of duty by those elected to serve,” Bako said. “The state has no functional House of Assembly, no political will to stop the violence, and mounting evidence tying state officials to illegal mining. This is no longer politics—it is a betrayal of the people.”
According to the NCAJ, several local governments—including Zurmi, Shinkafi, Anka, and Bukkuyum—have become ungovernable. Residents now pay levies to bandits for the right to farm, travel, or even sleep in safety. Children are being recruited, women abducted, and entire communities taxed by non-state actors while government officials continue to trade blame.
Bako further emphasized the breakdown of democratic institutions in the state. “Zamfara currently has no legally recognised House of Assembly. Ten lawmakers were suspended simply for speaking out against the worsening security situation. Without a legislature, the state is being governed without the checks and balances democracy demands—it’s a dictatorship of silence, and its victims are poor citizens who deserve better.”
The group also accused the state government of shielding illegal mining operators, claiming that credible intelligence suggests proceeds from unregulated mining are being used to fund arms for criminal gangs.
“The same hands that should be protecting Zamfara are profiting from its destruction,” Bako alleged.
To back its demands, the NCAJ said it will submit a comprehensive dossier to the National Assembly and the National Security Adviser in the coming days, urging them to support the declaration of a state of emergency in Zamfara.