The Sokoto State Government has appealed to the Federal Government to suspend its telecoms blockade on 14 local government areas of the state effective since September as part of efforts to clampdown on bandits operating in the North-West.

This was contained in a statement issued by the state government on Saturday.

The appeal is coming on the heels of “an enlarged security council meeting on the fallout of bandits attack on Goronyo market which claimed the lives of 43 people last week”.

“According to Gov. Aminu Tambuwal, the call for the rescinding of the blockade became necessary in view of concerns expressed by security outfits in the state that the outage was affecting the smooth conduct of their works,” a statement signed by Tambuwal’s spokesperson, Muhammad Bello, said.

“He said the state government has already forwarded a letter to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy to review the internet blockade.”

The statement said Tambuwal disclosed the state’s decision when he received, on Saturday, the North-East Governors Forum (NEGF) represented by Governors of Borno and Gombe state, Prof. Babagana Aymara Zulum and Alhaji Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya respectively.

The North-East Governors were paying a condolence visit to the state over the recent bandit attacks in the state.

Zamfara and Kaduna also have some of their local governments restricted from telecom services.