Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State has called on his predecessor, Bello Matawalle, to resign from his position as Minister of State for Defence. Lawal urged Matawalle to step aside and face serious allegations leveled against him, including accusations of sponsoring bandits and mismanaging state funds during his tenure as governor.
Speaking on Wednesday night during an interview on TVC, Governor Lawal did not hold back in his criticism of Matawalle. He said if the former governor had any remaining integrity, he should honorably step down and clear his name before continuing in public office.
“If I were him (Matawalle), I would resign and face all the allegations against me,” Lawal stated firmly.
The accusations against Matawalle are not new, but Lawal’s public challenge has intensified the situation. Matawalle has been accused of having links to the banditry crisis that has plagued Zamfara State and other parts of northern Nigeria. This crisis has resulted in countless kidnappings, killings, and mass displacement of residents in the region.
Among the shocking claims made by Governor Lawal was that the Zamfara State Government House was allegedly used to pay ransom for the children of a permanent secretary who had been abducted by bandits.
“There was a permanent secretary, when his children were abducted… it was unfortunate that he had to pay ransom through the government house,” Lawal revealed during the interview.
Lawal also made a more damning statement that bandits were reportedly being harbored within the government house under Matawalle’s administration. “It was also very clear from all the allegations that bandits were being kept at the government house,” he claimed.
According to Lawal, the allegations surrounding Matawalle’s involvement with bandits are too serious to be ignored. He called on the former governor to temporarily resign from his position as Minister of State for Defence and focus on clearing his name before continuing his duties in public service.
“How will he have all these allegations against him and still be the minister of defence?” Lawal questioned, stressing that someone facing such serious allegations should not be occupying such a sensitive position.
Governor Lawal’s challenge to Matawalle did not stop at accusations of banditry. Lawal also accused his predecessor of looting the state treasury, leaving it nearly empty when Lawal assumed office earlier this year.
In a previous interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today, Lawal made a startling revelation that over N250 billion was unaccounted for during Matawalle’s tenure as governor. This figure, Lawal claims, far exceeds the N70 billion the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had alleged was stolen before he took over.
“EFCC made a pronouncement sometime around May 21, 2023, or thereabouts, that it was alleging that N70 billion was stolen. That means before I took over. By the time I took over, I realized that the N70 billion they mentioned was a child’s play,” Lawal stated.
He went on to describe the dire financial state of Zamfara when he became governor. “So far based on available records, we realized over N250 billion was not accounted for. It is very funny. Let me explain to you the state I inherited. I inherited a very dysfunctional state,” Lawal said.
Lawal’s comments have shocked many, as they paint a bleak picture of how the state’s resources were allegedly mismanaged under Matawalle. According to him, the state’s financial situation was so dire that there was barely any money left in government accounts when he took over.
“There was no N4 million in Zamfara State Government account – just empty,” Lawal revealed, underscoring the extent of the financial collapse he had to deal with upon assuming office.
The governor also spoke about the challenges his administration faced in clearing salary arrears and restoring educational opportunities for the youth of the state. Lawal revealed that there was a four-month backlog of unpaid salaries when he took over.
Furthermore, Zamfara State indigenes had been deprived of writing important national examinations such as the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WAEC) and the National Examination Council (NECO) exams for three years under Matawalle’s administration.
“For three years, none of Zamfara’s indigenes wrote either WAEC or NECO,” Lawal said. To address this, his administration had to make immediate payments to settle outstanding debts owed to the examination bodies.
“I had to settle N1.3 billion for NECO and N1.6 billion for WAEC,” Lawal explained. The result of this action was that some students were finally able to collect their certificates after the government settled the payments.
