Because of the insecurity in the state, President Bola Tinubu has been requested by the All Progressives Congress (APC) chapter in Zamfara State to declare a state of emergency.

The APC said that Governor Dauda Laws is undermining security efforts by using propaganda and a media campaign against Bello Matawalle, the State Minister of Defence.

In an announcement released by Mallam Yusuf Idris Gusau, Publicity Secretary, the Zamfara APC further charged the governor with tampering with the lives of the people.

The statement said, in part, “Unpredictable unprecedented results are being produced by the military’s current onslaught on terrorists in Zamfara State, which is being carried out in the northwest states under the coordination and supervision of Dr. Bello Mohammed Matawalle, Minister of State for Defence, in accordance with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s instructions and directives.

“The federal government’s fight against banditry is quite impressive and needs to be sustained at all costs so that the region will be free from all forms of criminalities. Some bandits’ leaders and their gangs, who thought they were powerful as they laid siege on the region, have been subdued by the current development.”

However, as a party, we are appalled by the way Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal is attempting to undermine the current offensive by using his media campaigns to divert attention from the Federal Government’s efforts to succeed, which are being coordinated by the Minister of State for Defence. This is because the ongoing military operations are undermining Lawal’s plan to run for office in 2027, using the same kind of insecurity that he used to win the general elections in 2023.

In terms of logistics, the governor has never supported military operations in the state at all. In fact, the military once had to warn him to avoid participating in their efforts to drive out bandits from the state in particular and from northwestern states in general because of his excessive confrontationalism.

“We are calling on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on Zamfara in order to foil his cunning plan. He is bent on using media campaigns and propaganda to divert attention from the operation while also playing with the lives and property of innocent Zamfara citizens for his political gain.

This is a very desirable need in order to ensure that the operation proceeds without interference and that security personnel can enter the state without the governor and Zamfara government politicising the manhunt. The state governor, Dauda Lawal, has already started doing this by presenting himself as the operation’s sole sponsor, even though he has no involvement in it.

“Since taking over as governor of the state in May of last year, Mr. Lawal has vigorously supported attacks on his predecessor, Matawalle, including outright insults to the Minister’s property and unfounded charges that were consistently dismissed.

Before the situation worsened to the point where kidnappings for ransom and other heinous crimes became daily occurrences, Matawalle had repeatedly offered to work with the governor as both the Minister of Defence and a Zamfara citizen to combat the bandits. Instead, all he received was abuse from the governor and his men, including hired individuals who were made to despise Matawalle without cause.

The President ordered Dr. Bello Mohammed Matawalle, the Minister of State for Defence, to lead the Defence Headquarters alongside the Chief of Defence Staff and organise the total eradication of the bandits operating in the area in order to restore peace to the nation and the region. The President was alarmed by the widespread outcry.

With boundless zeal, the minister and his troops accomplished the difficult work, destroying the criminals, their commanders, and their camps. They won praise from all around the world, with the exception of governor Dauda Lawal and his colleagues, who are not pleased with the onslaught that Matawalle is leading.

“But since they are powerless to stop Matawalle, the governor has, as usual, resorted to politicising and subtly opposing Matawalle by bringing up Dauda’s previous charges that Matawalle embezzled funds from Zamfara.

In addition to buying airtime at some media sites to assert that he was the one leading the troops in the fight without acknowledging the ministers, he left everything for the future administration.

During a TV interview, Governor Dauda made a mocking question, “I don’t need Matawalle; I’m dealing with the President, Badaru, the Minister of Defence, and National Security Advisor. Who is Matawalle?”

“When in fact, it was Matawalle who was given the task of eliminating the most dangerous bandit, Haliru Sububu, giving Nigerians hope that the others would soon meet their Waterloo as well,”

We are not surprised because a governor who can grant approval of over 1.3 billion naira as alleged, to sponsor terrorism, denied the act but immediately redeployed all 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.

The same Dauda who allotted more than N19 billion for his wife’s kitchen continued to bring up accusations made against his predecessor, Matawalle, when he was unable to provide an accounting of the billions that the federal government had released to the state in the form of cash and grains for palliative care, which other state governors had given to their citizens but which remained a mirage in Zamfara.

While the governor continues to associate Matawalle with bandits, the leader of the Turji bandits publicly stated approximately two months ago that he knew some bandits were being housed at the Government House in Gusau. We raised the alert, but the government has never publicly denied this.

Therefore, Governor Dauda ought to be the first person on the list if someone is going to be looked into for bandits.