R
Richard Ogunsile
Guest
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State has appealed to President Bola Tinubu’s government to declare a state of emergency on the state due to its worrying spate of insecurity.
Naija News reports that APC made this call in a lengthy statement made available to newsmen in Gusau, the state capital, on Saturday.
The statement signed by the state’s APC Publicity Secretary, Yusuf Idris, said: “We are appealing to President Bola Tinubu to enforce a state of emergency in the state over insecurity.
“People of Zamfara have lost confidence in the ability of the administration of Governor Dauda Lawal to deal with the security situation in the state.
“The Zamfara APC chapter commended the ongoing onslaught on bandits and terrorists in the state by the military in the North-Western states under the coordination and supervision of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.”
According to Idris, the ongoing military operations in the North-West, as directed by Tinubu, are certainly yielding unpredictable, unprecedented results.
He added, “Bandits’ leaders and their gangs have been subdued by the current development of the Federal Government’s fight against banditry.
“This is very impressive and needs to be sustained at all costs so that the region will be free from all forms of criminality.
“As a party, we observe with dismay how the Zamfara Government is trying to sabotage the ongoing onslaught through his media campaigns.
”This is to distract the effort of the federal government under the coordination of the Minister of State for Defence.
“We have observed that Lawal, as the Governor of the state, has never in any way supported the military operations in the state in terms of logistics.”
Gov Lawal Endangering Lives Of Zamfara People For Political Gains
Idris, who recalled that the military had recently issued a warning to him to avoid their operations and activities, mentioned that Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal is currently trying to divert attention from the operation by using media tactics and spreading false information.
Idris believes that Lawal is deliberately putting the lives and property of the people of Zamfara at risk for his own political ambitions.
The APC chieftain noted that it’s crucial to pressure the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Zamfara to disrupt the ‘malicious scheme’.
Idris argued that this is essential to ensure the operation can proceed smoothly and security forces can operate in the state without interference from the governor and Zamfara’s political leadership.
He pointed out that Governor Lawal has already started to present himself as the sole supporter of the operation, despite having no direct involvement.
Since taking office as governor in May of last year, Lawal has aggressively attacked his predecessor, Bello Matawalle, including physical attacks on the Minister’s property and unfounded allegations that were ignored.
Matawalle had previously offered his services as Minister of State for Defence and as a citizen of Zamfara to collaborate with the governor in combating the bandits.
According to him, he did so even before the situation worsened, with bandit attacks, kidnappings for ransom, and other serious crimes becoming a regular occurrence, yet the governor did not take action.
“The president, concerned by the general outcry, directed Matawalle to lead the Defence Headquarters with the CDS to embark on full operation in fight against insecurity in the North-West.
“The Minister and his fighters had effectively carried out the onerous task, decimating the criminals, their leaders and camps.
”They have been receiving accolades from all over the world except from Gov. Dauda Lawal and his team who are not happy with the onslaught being handled by Matawalle.
“The governor is now, as usual, turned to politicising and indirectly fighting Matawalle.”
According to him, Lawal has been claiming that Matawalle left nothing for his administration.
Idris added, “As well as buying airtime at some media outlets to claim to be the one coordinating the fight alongside the military without any recognition of the minister.
“In his TV interviews, Gov. Lawal sarcastically asked, “Who’s Matawalle? I am dealing with the Minister of Defence, Badaru, National Security Adviser and the President and I don’t need Matawalle.
“When in reality, it’s Matawalle who was charged with the responsibility which saw the elimination of the most dangerous bandit, Haliru Sububu, giving confidence to Nigerians that the others too will soon follow by meeting their Waterloo.
“We are not surprised because a governor who can approve over N1.3 billion as alleged to sponsor terrorism denied the act.
”But he immediately redeployed all the Directors of the state Ministry of Finance, whom he believed were the ones who leaked the memo and still denied despite the redeployment letter in circulation, cannot be given public trust.”
Idris alleged that the same Lawal budgeted over ₦19 billion for his wife’s kitchen but kept recalling allegations against his predecessor, Matawalle.
He added, ”When he cannot give an account of the billions released to the state by the Federal Government in cash and grains as palliatives.
”These were distributed by the Governors of other states to their citizens but have remained a mirage in Zamfara.
Idris added that the efforts of Matawalle in the fight against banditry when he was Governor in Zamfara were far ahead of those of Lawal.
”This was because Matawalle had distributed 200 brand new Hilux vehicles to the security agencies in the state on the 8th July 2020.
“The well-equipped vehicles were distributed amongst the Police, Nigerian Army, Air force, NSCDC, Immigration Service, FRSC, DSS, EFCC, NCoS, ZAROTA and HISBA Commission.
“At the instance of the former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), retired Lt.- Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, who was represented by GOC 3 Division, Maj.- Gen. Nuhu Angbazo and the then CP. Usman Nagogo.
“The vehicles were judiciously utilized and the desired result was achieved.
“On the issue of the reconciliation and disarmament, the Matawalle administration executed it through the positive, workable advice given by all the security agencies as against Lawal’s comments that it failed.”
Idris mentioned that every Emir, Islamic scholars, and all key critical stakeholders in the government played a significant role in every meeting and strategy discussion aimed at putting an end to banditry.
Upon being reached out to, the State Publicity Secretary for the PDP, Alhaji Haliru Andi, told Vanguard that the leadership of the PDP was informed about the APC’s claims.
“We have seen the press release, we are making arrangements to react on the empty allegations against the PDP-led government in the state by the APC,” Andi explained.
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