President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday met behind closed doors with the Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, over the Tuesday killings in his state.
The meeting was held inside the President’s office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Bandits had on Tuesday invaded Bindin village in Zamfara State and killed over 36 gold miners.
More than 40 others were said to have been injured in the afternoon invasion of the mining site in the village, which is in Maru Local Government Area.
The Zamfara State Government put the death toll at 36, based on the buried bodies.
The governor’s meeting with the President lasted less than one hour.
Yari later emerged from the President’s office with the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha.
Although he did not grant press interview, the governor confirmed he met with the President on the issue.
“That (the killing) was what I discussed with the President,” the governor simply said as he walked out of the Presidential Villa.
He did not give further details of the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, has condemned the senseless killing of 36 Nigerians at a mining site in Zamfara State on Monday by armed bandits.
He directed the police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, to apprehend the perpetrators of the heinous act and bring them to justice, a statement on Wednesday in Abuja by the Press Secretary to the minister, Osaigbovo Ehisienmen, stated.
“The Minister of Interior has condemned in strong terms, the senseless killing of innocent Nigerians at a mining site in Zamfara State. While condoling with the Government and people of Zamfara State over the most reprehensible attack, Dambazau has mandated the police and the NSCDC to apprehend the perpetrators of this dastardly act, with a view to bringing them to justice,” it said.
Dambazau stated that the incident had strengthened his resolve to collaborate with the Ministry of Mines and Solid Minerals to establish a special squad comprising of NSCDC personnel to protect organised mining sites across the country.
The minister also urged the police and the NSCDC to develop a better synergy to curb kidnapping and sundry criminalities currently plaguing the country.
Dambazau, at a meeting with the top management of the two security agencies, noted that crime pattern was not static, but dynamic, hence the need for them “to work out better synergy considering the fact that criminals do not operate in isolation.”
He observed that in the face of rising security concern, there was the need for both agencies to collaborate with other security services in sharing intelligence, manpower development through joint training and joint operations.