By Yusuf Idris Gusau
Our attention has been drawn to a sponsored and unethical write-up in trying to condemn the assigned Defence ministerial portfolio to the immediate past Governor Matawalle, who is Zamfara State APC leader
But the concocted story or the fifth columnists were not able to prove their claims instead they ended up disgracing their medium with names that are not in conformity with Journalism ethics of using only one name Amina without surname and also went ahead to create ghost names and false interview just for the hatred they have against Bello Mohammed Matawalle not to become Minister of Defence which after our findings we established that all the publications were sponsored by the Zamfara State PDP led administration of Dauda Lawal.
So far, Mr. Dauda Lawal Dare is the executive governor of Zamfara state, at least since May 29, 2023 as the APC in the state is still challenging his declaration as governor by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but the governor has continued headbent to becloud himself by political bitterness and vendetta against his predecessor, Matawalle who has since moved on with his life allowing the judiciary to determine his plea.
Beyond staging different flimsy, shabby, and false allegations against Matawalle to hide his inadequacies, the governor even uses junk journalists and their nationally renowned irresponsible media houses to attack the former governor wherever the former governor is.
The latest of such attacks came on the heels of the nomination, screening and subsequent confirmation of Matawalle as a minister designate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for which he has been proposed as the Minister of State for Defence which no doubt was in recognition of the efforts Matawalle made in addressing insecurity when he served as governor which had had international recognition but were deliberately overlooked by Dauda and his co-travelling junk journalists who never came to the state to see things for themselves but feed the unsuspecting public with the garbage they receive from their pay masters and add up with their own fabrication in order to make money at the expense of people’s blood flowing from the ever escalating insecurity in the state.
Definitely, Zamfara has never experienced acts of banditry and vandalism like what the people have been witnessing since May 29, with the declaration of Dauda as governor in the sense that the bandits having seen that nothing is being done against them, now go beyond villages in their crimes against the peace loving people of Zamfara, but have entered local government headquarters and even the state capital, Gusau where scores have either been killed or kidnapped.
The governor who is supposed to be there at every inch for his people who have lost their loved ones to the gruesome killers however showed less concern and returned an advice from Matawalle that he should invite stakeholders to discuss a way out of the quandary with venomous insults.
It has remained to the credit of Bello Mohammed Matawalle that when he took over as governor, he invited security heads, religious leaders, traditional leaders and stakeholders cutting across the state and asked them on the way forward which culminated into the implementation of various measures leading to the gradual return of peace in the state.
Even the former IGP Abubakar led committee report was partly implemented, including the dethronement of some traditional rulers found to be involved with bandits. For an uninformed media house to say that the MB Abubakar committee report was never implemented explains the absurdity the Dauda fraction of loyalists being intimidated by Matawalle go in their bitterness, more so that since the report has been under the custody of their master, why haven’t they implemented it but decided to only bring it up when it is convenient for them to attack.
Knowing fully well that government is a continuous process, Matawalle immediately also after becoming governor, bought 200 Hilux pickup vans and distributed them to security agencies working in the state in order to ease some of their logistics. This led to the reopening of all the state’s roads that were closed because of the banditry activities including the Kaura- Zurmi-Gidan Jaja- Gurbin Bore, Kaura-Moriki- Shinkafi, Mafara-Birnin Tudu-Rini- Faru-Boko, Gusau-Magami-Dansadau Kotorkoshi-Mada-Wonaka- Ruwan Bore roads which were not accessible with normal daily activities resuming in all the areas.
Similarly, all markets that were closed because of the bandits’ activities like Tsafe, Kasuwar Daji, Shinkafi, Mada, Dansadau, Magami, Jangebe, Wuya, Bingi, Dangulbi, Wanke, Bagega and Nasarawa Burkullu Markets were all reopened by Matawalle with commercials activities resuming and people going about their legal businesses without fear of being attacked or kidnapped.
He also installed CCTV cameras in the state capital and all the 14 local government headquarters making the state under 24hour surveillance, unfortunately, these were deliberately removed by the PDP supporters while celebrating the emergence of Dauda as governor.
The suburbs of Gusau are no longer safe. Only last month, Alh Anas Usman aka Dafa’I was killed by the Bandits at his Tsauni residence just as another innocent person was killed at Bayan NTA, likewise Damba, Mareri, Gada Biyu are not safe now
Dauda’s fear and that of his masters is that they don’t want Matawalle to end their established venture using insecurity because he will certainly fight the insecurity bedevilling the state to the logical conclusion in Zamfara and indeed the entire country.
His outstanding performance in tackling insecurity challenges as a governor which gave Dauda the opportunity to go and campaign in all the nooks and crannies of the state without any attack is clear testimony of the Matawalle efforts in curtailing the security situation in Zamfara State.
Those money making media houses that are out to condemn Matawalle because their already dirty hands have again been soiled to do the bidding of their pay masters must however know that they will continue to fail as Nigerians are fully aware of their trade which have branded them as mischievous and blackmailers and one day, this will consume them.
We advise them to concentrate on governmening the state because no amount of condemnation or blackmail will stop Matawalle from fighting banditry in Zamfara and the northwest in general for which he committed himself.
Yusuf Idris Gusau
APC Publicity Secretary
Zamfara State
