Elder statesmen in Zamfara State have accused Nigeria’s security operatives of going behind and without the proper channel to set some arrested bandits free.

Speaking for the elders, a former member of the National Assembly, Saidu Dansadau, who represented Zamfara Central constituency, disclosed this while briefing journalists after a meeting in Gusau on Sunday.

“The committee expresses its dismay and disappointment for indiscriminate release of criminals by the authorities who either arrest them or to whom the criminals are handed over when they are arrested by the military, vigilante group, or any other security organisation,” Mr Dansadau said.

Mr Dansadau added that the indiscriminate release of criminals was the cause for the escalation of incidents of banditry, kidnappings and terrorism in the state.

“We appeal to the law enforcement agencies in the state to, for the sake of God, have a paradigm shift from this indiscriminate release of criminals and resort to arraigning the criminals in the court of law because the meeting identified this indiscriminate and incessant release of criminals as one of the immediate causes of the escalation of criminality in the state,” he said.

This revelation comes a few days after the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Idris Wase, accused officers of the Nigerian police of working together with bandits to kidnap citizens.

Mr Wase said security operatives were in the habit of facilitating the release of bandits, an accusation the police attempted to debunk.