Two thousand youths, who have been terrorising Gusau, on Wednesday, repented and handed over 190 locally made rifles and short guns to the state Governor, Bello Muhammad at the Government House.
According to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Governor, Zailani Bappa, the youths were led to the Government House by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Security, Abubakar Daura, who said he was convinced that the resolve of the youths was genuine.
He told the Governor that in the recent past, the major cities of the State, especially Gusau were highly unsafe.
“Apart from the known menace of banditry, Youth restiveness and crime was the order of the day. But today, the Youth are towing the line of repentant bandits and also repenting in their bad ways.
Leader of the youths, popularly known as Sani Shaidan, told the Governor that they were encouraged on what they did because the immediate past administration in the state did not care about their welfare, nor cared if they resorted to violence to address their needs.
He however, said they were now convinced that the Government of Bello Muhammad genuinely intends to address the ills of their society.
“We therefore decided to allow peace to replace the violence and crime they instituted in the state capital.”
Responding, Governor Bello assured the repentant youths of his earlier commitment to finding lasting solutions to their plights.
He asked them to form committees for monitoring the Youth who refuse to accept the peace initiatives.
He donated five Peugeot cars for the purpose of the monitoring exercise within the metropolis.
