Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa has demanded justice over the revelation by the Zamfara State Police Commissioner, Muhammad Shehu Dalijan, that evidence in their possession showed that his associate, Alhaji Magaji Lawali, was personally killed by the pioneer commander of the state-owned security outfit, Community Protection Guards (CPG), a dismissed Army Colonel, Rabi’u Garba Yandoto.
The late Lawali, a renowned politician in the state and his neighbour Malam Yahaya Galadima were picked up on February 10, this year, by the CPG personnel at Tashar-Dangoje village while attending a wedding ceremony.
They were taken to the CPG outpost in Tsafe LGA of Zamfara State for questioning on the allegation of aiding banditry in the locality, only for the family of Alhaji Magaji Lawali to be told the following day that he had died in detention.
Confirming the arrest to Daily Trust, in the newspaper edition of Monday, August 12, 2024, CP Dalijan said evidence in police possession uncovered how the ex-CPG commander personally murdered the politician on February 10, 2024, while in detention at the security outfit’s facility in Tsafe.
Senator Marafa, in a statement he personally signed and made available to SINL Nigeria Online commended the Zamfara State Police Commissioner and the Command for the thorough investigation of the matter.
He said the outcome of the investigation was a confirmation of his previous statement that the ex-CPG commander, a dismissed army officer, was on a vendetta mission when he killed his associate.
Senator Marafa, who represented Zamfara Central between 2011 and 2019, urged the police commissioner and other security agencies to fast-track the investigation of similar cases in the state, especially that of a renewed cleric, Imam Abubakar Hassan Mada, who was brutally slaughtered, saying this will go a long way in restoring the people’s confidence and hope in security and government.
“I wish to commend the Police Commissioner for the thorough investigation that has confirmed what the people of the community said about the killing of my associates. As I said previously, the dismissed Army officer took the appointment as CPG commander to kill my associates. This is because Yandoto ordered his partners in crime to arrest my associate the very day the Zamfara State Government announced his appointment, and he killed Magaji Lawali personally, as confirmed by the police commissioner, the same day.
“There’s no need for any further delay in the prosecution of the killer of my associate. The killer should be charged in court and be prosecuted in line with the gravity of the offence he committed. His offence is weightier than that of bandits because he hid under the guise of safeguarding our people to kill my associate,” he said.
