President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the killing of 37 innocent people by bandits in Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State and vowed to respond fiercely against “these brutal and remorseless enemies of humanity”.

In a statement by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Saturday, the president commiserated with the victims of the unfortunate attacks, the government and people of Sokoto state.

“This frequent and large scale killings of poor villagers by gangs of mass murderers must be met with the fiercest force the government can mobilise,” Shehu quoted the president as saying.

The presidential spokesman announced that troops had been deployed to the affected areas and aerial security measures put in place.

“The Police commissioner as well as the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has since visited the affected local government area, Goronyo. The Presidency is consulting with states rocked by this tit-for-tat violent attacks with a view to complementing the security measures being put in place by getting the communities to dialogue with one another”.

‘‘The results we are getting from Zamfara State where this sort of engagement is ongoing at the instance of the local authorities working with the police and other security agencies are very encouraging”.

‘‘Other states in the federation where there are similar security challenges are encouraged to emulate Zamfara in the hope that the solution to the problems will be found,” the spokesman said.

According to him, the Buhari administration will continue to encourage dialogue and disarmament of communities and bandits.

He, however, warned that the government would not tolerate “any situation where the spirit of ceasefire is made a mockery of by continued violence against innocent people”.(NAN