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.

According to the APC, Governor Dauda Lawal is undermining security efforts by using propaganda and a media campaign against Bello Matawalle, the state minister of defense.

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.

A portion of the statement said, “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, the Minister of State for Defense, 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 Defense. 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 in any way; instead, the military had to warn him to avoid their activities at one point in order to drive out bandits from the state in particular and the northwestern states because he has been too confrontational.”

“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.

In order to prevent the governor and the Zamfara government from politicizing the manhunt, it is extremely desirable that this need not be met. The state governor, Dauda Lawal, has already started to do this by presenting himself as the only supporter of the operation, 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.

“Matawalle had repeatedly offered to work with the governor as a Zamfara citizen and as Minister of Defense to combat the bandits, even before the situation got out of hand and kidnappings for ransom and other horrible crimes started happening on a daily basis. 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, alarmed by the widespread protests, gave the Minister of State for Defense, Dr. Bello Mohammed Matawalle, instructions to head Defense Headquarters alongside the Chief of Defence Staff and organize the total eradication of the bandits waging war in the region in order to restore peace to both the region and the entire nation.

With boundless energy, the minister and his fighters successfully completed the difficult mission, destroying the criminals, their leaders, and their camps. They won praise from all over the world, with the exception of governor Dauda Lawal and his colleagues, who are unhappy with the onslaught that Matawalle is handling.

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

“He bought space at some media outlets to pretend that he was the one organizing the fight alongside the military without acknowledging the ministers’ involvement, and he left nothing 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 Defense, 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 the public cannot trust a governor who can approve over 1.3 billion naira to be used as sponsorship for terrorism, denies the act, immediately redeploys all state Ministry of Finance directors whom he believes were responsible for the memo leak, and continues to deny despite the redeployment letter in circulation.

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 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 up to this point.

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