By: John Bassey, Gusau.
The Zamfara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, under the leadership of Umar Tukur Danfulani, has vehemently condemned in strong terms the unguarded utterances of Dr. Dauda Lawal, demanding that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sack Minister Bello Mohammed Matawalle as a condition to decamp to APC.
This was contained in a statement by Yusuf Idris Gusau, APC Publicity Secretary, Zamfara State, to journalists in Gusau, the state capital.
The statement accused Governor Dauda Lawal of seeking a window way of entering the party rather than being bold enough to use the main door.
The party urged Governor Lawal to shun the politics of hatred, malice, and deceit, while taking responsibility to approach established stakeholders with dignity, fair play, and a spirit of statesmanship.
Zamfara APC warned Governor Lawal’s aides to desist from zombie political nature and open their eyes to appreciate the good things that are being done by the APC-led government under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu across the country.
Dauda, as a new entrant into the political system, should not regard his Predecessor, Dr. Bello Matawalle, as a major political rival in the whole world, as he remained unmatched in the political heavyweight experience in positions and years of service.
The party noted that Governor Lawal has made several attempts to present himself as the governor saddled with the rights to condemn all the good efforts Matawalle has been making to ensure peace in all parts of the country by calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to remove Matawalle owing to what Dauda sees as “inadequacies” in the Honourable Minister.
The entire APC structure of Zamfara called on Dr. Lawal to make a timely decision to join the party and abstain from giving the party unrealistic and malicious conditions, as he may not fulfill the party’s condition if meted out to him.
It is to Matawalle’s credit that right from the Tinubu/Shatima Presidential Campaigns when he served as the Director-General of the whole northwest Campaigns Council and overwhelmingly won in all the states to contribute immensely in bringing the votes in favour of President Tinubu in 2023, never failed in effectively discharging his assigned responsibilities particularly special assignments coming directly from the President in combating insecurity particularly in the northwest and the nation in general.
It is still fresh in our memories as Nigerians that when once the President and Commander-in-Chief directed Matawalle to relocate to the North West region and coordinate the onslaught against banditry with the military high command, during which many of the criminals announced their surrender, the minister initially tried to set up operational base in Zamfara State (which is considered the epicentre) of the criminals but unfortunately, governor Dauda never gave the permission even though it indirectly came from the President himself.
The base was ultimately moved to Sokoto when the governor, Ahmed Aliyu, happily welcomed the military personnel, and the operation recorded appreciable success.
Then lately too, with the kidnapping of the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga in Kebbi State, the President again directed Matawalle to coordinate the onerous task alongside the military, and in less than a week, all 24 students were safely rescued and handed over to the Kebbi state governor, Idris, who handed them back to their happy parents.
While all these were happening, Governor Dauda Lawal and his aides kept showing deliberate pessimism and calling for Matawalle’s head.
Meanwhile, Matawalle, on the other hand, and the state APC leader, have been receiving decampee, especially from the ruling PDP, both in Abuja and in Zamfara, including many PDP chieftains and leaders, to the disappointment of the PDP.
The APC National Secretariat, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the entire presidency are all watching this scenario, including Dauda’s initial moves to also decamp to the APC, but he is playing the chameleon due to his arrogance in coming to the state APC leader.
Seeing that he was leg dragging and to create a window for him, Minister Matawalle, at a news conference, said the party was ready to receive Dauda Lawal once he comes through the right channel.
shortly after which both Dauda and his supporters went to the press, insulting the minister, the President, and the APC, which they said have taken the nation backwards, and that they will never have anything to do with the APC.
The party reiterated that Governor Dauda Lawal is definitely not in a position to bargain, but let him humble himself by coming to the party leaders of the state and declare his allegiance and loyalty so that he can be accepted.
He can start by releasing the 270 innocent members of the APC whom he has incarcerated just because they are APC members, then he can come with clean hands.
