On Matawalle’s ‘Telltale Interview and Leadership Failure
By Muzammil Muhammed
In his latest episode of ‘Show Of Shame’ on Channels TV, the Former Governor of Zamfara state and the State Minister for Defence, Bello Matawalle exposed himself to the whole world as a ‘narcissistic exhibitionist’ who as always, looks down on his own people by calling them “terrible human beings with devilish ideas…”.
Finally, Matawalle has summoned the courage to say in public and on national TV, what he thinks and has always said about the people of Zamfara in private.
The Zamfarawa, as a people, have expressed their collective will at the ballot box by rejecting Matawalle, his minions, and the APC. So there is no love lost.
The Minister made a farrago of incoherent assertions and falsehoods about his stewardship of Zamfara State. He claimed that the people of Zamfara don’t like him because he is fearless and decisive, which is nothing but a fallacy.
However, Matawalle was absolutely correct in admitting that the people of Zamfara despise him but for obvious reasons.
But “let me remember you” of some of the reasons why the people of Zamfara don’t like you, Mr. Minister.
Fight Against Banditry:
Mr Minister , regardless of what your intentions were, you empowered bandits in the name of dialogue and reconciliation. You allegedly hosted bandits in our GOVERNMENT HOUSE and dined with them. In fact, according to Mal. Murtala Asada, you even served one of them with your own hands. You then gave them money and Hilux-trucks.
In the end, some of those Hilux-trucks were used to raid our communities and villages, and the money was most likely used to acquire more arms.
I think it is important to remind you that so many of our heroes past, who struggled for the creation of this state never stepped foot into that Government house until there death but you invited bandits that killed, raped and maimed our women into the Government house. Haba Excellency!
It was also alleged that on several occasions, bandits who have been caught and handed over to security agencies by vigilantes and community watch groups were released on your orders or that of your government officials. Not forgetting that under your watch one of the most “bloodthirsty” bandit’s, who admitted on record to have lost count of the number of people he murdered, was turbaned with a traditional title which some of your cabinet members attended the turbaning ceremony all in the name of dialogue and reconciliation. Haba Excellency! …..Haba!.
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“let me remember you” of September 2021, Mr Minister, in case you have forgotten. As most people were trying to recover from the catastrophic impact of the Covid19 lock down, a leaked memo showed that you ordered the NCC to shut down mobile network in Zamfara in the name of taking the fight to the bandits, little did we know that you had no plan or strategy. You played into the hands of the bandits yet again, and as a consequence, they had enough time to ransack multiple villages day and night, with no means to alert other communities or even call for help. They broke the resistance and resilience of our communities and further decimated an already fragile local economy. Completely wiping out means of livelihoods for many people. To this day many are yet to recover from that tragedy.
As people were struggling to inform their relatives and friends about the loss of loved ones and sources of livelihood as a result of the shut down of the mobile network and consequently the bandit attacks, you then installed star links for you and your cronies to communicate. Only those who had ‘real connection’ could get access to the Internet.
Mind you, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, Zamfara, as of that time, had over 2 million mobile subscribers and over 1.5 million active Internet subscribers out of a population of 5 million. At least half of these 3.5 million people never forgot and are probably still angry.
A few weeks ago, you came to sokoto and had your usual ‘beauty parade’ in the name of relocating the service chiefs and launching the ‘Operation Fansar Yamma’. Yet you refused to come alongside the CDS to Zamfara your home state and the epicentre of the banditry in the ‘Yamma’ to show that you can be apolitical and can put the security of your people ahead of any grudge you may hold against Governor Dauda Lawal. I think you missed a priceless opportunity to show Zamfarawa that you truly care and try to redeem yourself.
Administrative Leadership :
Mr Minister, “let me remember you” that while you were the Governor not a single government owned secondary school registered it students for either WAEC, NECO, or NABTEB exams for three years. Thousands of students in government schools were left frustrated and susceptible to joining criminal gangs. This built up a lot of resentment against your administration.
You demolished a functioning Farida VVF hospital and King fahad Women’s and Children’s Hospital, with the promise of building state of the art hospitals. But up on till you left office, they remained an assembly of “lego” blocks for lizards to climb. Denying thousands of women and children access to healthcare.
Another reason was that anybody who dared to disagree with you or any of your government policies was accused of being a bandit collaborator or financier. You accused your own deputy, your secretary to the state government, and some members of the state Assembly. The Zamfarawa saw right through you, Sir.
Political Leadership
You spoke so much about swearing with the Holy Qur’an in that interview, and I know it was supposed to lend you some credibility and respectability, but unfortunately, your reputation precedes you, Sir.
At this juncture “let me remember you” once again….. when you swore by Allah not to betray the PDP and those who supported you, but in the end, we all know what eventually happened.
So Excellency, it really doesn’t matter when? where? Or with what you swear. Your reputation precedes you.!
Remember Allah SWT is the All-hearing and All-seeing.
In your ‘show of shame’ interview, you also described yourself as fearless, but believe me, Excellency, many think you’re spineless instead.
In the eyes of many, you seemed to fear former Governor Yari and his gang of brigands far more than you believe that Allah is the One Who gives power to who ever He wishes, whenever He wishes and can Snatch it away whenever He wishes.
They said you were so scared of Yari that you cowardly gave away 7 house representatives seats, almost half the state assembly seats and 2 senate seats just to save yourself. What a shame!
The way and manner you went about impeaching your then deputy did more harm than good. You should have borrowed a leaf from the books of your friend Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and his then deputy Ahmed Aliyu or that of Baba Alu and Muktar Shagari. I know you may find this hard to believe, but political differences can be resolved in a civilised manner.
“Let me also remember you” that since after the 2019 campaign, you did not visit many of the local governments until when you needed their votes again in 2023. You didn’t go to launch or commission any project or even to commiserate with them for whatever tragedy that may have befallen them. This infuriated the masses, and they didn’t forget.
Usually, when political leaders leave power, they leave lasting legacies, but you left us with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) instead.
However, it may interest you to know that we’ve moved on and we’re one year into socio-economic and infrastructural therapy. Insha Allah Zamfara will bounce back.
Alhamdulillah for Dauda Lawal. We leave you in peace.
