APC tackles Zamfara govt over ‘campaign of calumny’ against Matawalle

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the North-West has condemned the conduct of the Zamfara State government on matters relating to the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.

The APC National Vice Chairman, North-West, Garba Datti, who addressed journalists at the party’s zonal office in Kaduna on Saturday, said Governor Dauda Lawal’s administration has made it its primary role to drag Matawalle’s name in the mud at all costs he left office on May 29.

He challenged the government to tackle the security challenges that held the state to a standstill instead of focusing on the ex-governor.

Datti said: “The APC North-West viewed the protest staged by some hoodlums parading as civil society groups sponsored by the state at the National Assembly to demand the removal of Matawalle from the Federal Executive Council is not only mendacious but a futile exercise.

“APC therefore, condemned in totality such show of shame by the so-called civil society groups.

“President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a core politician understands very well that whenever an opposition party asks you to disown one of your own, certainly that person poses a threat to everything they stand for.”

“The president is aware of Matawalle’s political value and pedigree which earned him the North-West Campaign Coordinator for the 2023 presidential election.

“His immense contribution resulted in the region posting the highest number of votes that gave our party the edge we needed to clinch the presidency with relative ease.

READ ALSO: Tribunal affirms Lawal as Zamfara Gov, throws out Matawalle’s petition

“Matawalle was the Chairman of the House Committee on Security, Public Safety and Intelligence between 2011- 2015. The president, therefore, knows his worth and capacity. That is why he nominated him for a ministerial position.

“APC North-West insists that Matawalle’s integrity and patriotism in the eyes of whoever knows him closely stood out for him even when Dauda’s government-sponsored hoodlums with placards protested at EFCC headquarters that Matawalle must be investigated to prevent him from making the ministerial list.

“We follow closely and understand that the greatest achievement of the current administration in Zamfara since its inception is painting Matawalle black at all times.

“Most press releases from the state Government House in Gusau were strategically drafted to cast aspersions on the person of Bello Matawalle.

“All allegations made on Matawalle by the PDP Government in Zamfara that he has ties with bandits is just to score cheap political points.

“They should know that like any other ministerial nominee, Matawalle went through rigorous security scrutiny before being screened and confirmed by the Senate to be appointed as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

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