THE Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, on Tuesday, said the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and President Bola Tinubu were aware of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle’s alleged involvement with the banditry in the state.
The governor added that he had reported the minister to the NSA and the President and presented some facts to them.
This is coming after Matawalle, a former Zamfara governor, denied having ties with bandits in the state.
Speaking on Channels Television, Matawalle had challenged Governor Dauda and General Ali Gusau(retd.) to swear by the Holy Quran that they have no involvement in banditry ravaging the state and the entire North-West.
Matawalle argued that it was baseless to accuse him of sponsoring bandits because he chose to have a dialogue with bandits as part of efforts to stop killings.
He noted that other governors, including those of Niger, Sokoto, and Katsina states, had also had to engage in similar talks with bandits.
Matawalle, while maintaining that he was not a bandits’ sponsor, challenged his successor, Lawal and General Gusau to swear by the Qu’ran that they were not sponsoring bandits.
However, in an interview with our correspondent on Tuesday, Lawal’s Chief Press Secretary, Sulaiman Idris, said Matawalle was lying and vowed that all the evidence against him would soon be released to the media.
He also said his boss, who is currently out of the country, had sworn by the Qu’ran and prayed that anyone behind banditry should be punished.
Idris said, “He has done that (swore by Qu’ran). There was a clip of him during an event, when he was lamenting over an incident that happened. That time, he swore that he didn’t have anything to do with banditry and he prayed that anyone who had a hand in the banditry in the state, God should punish the person.
“He (Matawalle) is lying. We mentioned names. He should come out and clear his name. He needs to explain his relationship with them.
“These two people, they were the ones that he gave Hilux and money and foodstuffs to share with bandits. So, this is not an allegation, we have facts and the NSA is aware of that.
“When the governor met with the President, he explained all these things to him as well. He has also explained to the NSA that this is the situation and these are the facts that we have, but now since he’s asking for facts, I assure you that we are going to bring the facts out.
“He wants a media trial; he’s calling for it. So, we’ll do that because we know we have all the evidence.”
A phone and Whatsapp calls to the Office of the National Security Adviser’s spokesperson, Zakari Mijinyawa, were not answered.
He had yet to respond to the message sent to him to inquire if the NSA had initiated an investigation into the allegations against the minister.
The Force spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, when contacted, said the police were not the lead agency in the operation against banditry in the state.
The Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, could not also be reached as of the time of filing this report.
When contacted, the Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj Gen Edward Buba said, “Direct your question to the minister’s office, please.”