Matawalle Accuses Buhari, Soldiers Of Blocking His Re-election

BY BELLO ABDULAZIZ – In an unexpected political outburst arising from the March 18 governorship poll, Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State has accused President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and the Nigerian Military of working against his re-election for not backing the much-criticised Naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Matawalle pointedly said the hard posture he took against the policy that visited untold hardship on Nigerians, ultimately cost him the Zamfara State Chief Executive seat being among the three All Progressives Congress (APC) governors who dragged the Federal Government before the Supreme Court.

In the suit, Governor Matawalle, alongside Governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, had urged the Supreme Court to declare the Naira policy illegal because it did not follow due process of the law.

Speaking in an interview with DW Hausa, the governor, who lost in the March 18 poll, claimed that the Federal Government deliberately worked against him and other APC governors that rejected the policy, alleging that soldiers deployed to the state clearly stopped voters from voting for him.

He further alleged that APC supporters were beaten up and prevented from voting for the ruling party, adding; “I told my people prior to the election not to take part in rigging the poll for me to win because I prefer the people of the state to vote for me to win without rigging.

“During the election, the number of soldiers we saw in Zamfara was terrifying because we have never seen that number of soldiers in the state. The moment I saw them, I didn’t bother myself and I knew something was going on because I received confidential reports that there are some people who want to take revenge on me and some governors over some things, they feel we didn’t do right.

“What they’ve been saying was when we filed a case at the court over the Naira re-design policy, that I, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State and Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State will see the result of what we did. In truth, we have the challenge of insecurity in Zamfara which we were trying to get soldiers to be deployed but we couldn’t. But three days before the election, over 300 cars carrying soldiers came into Zamfara.

“If the troops had been sent when we were dealing with insecurity, by now, it would have been brought to an end in Zamfara. No polling unit in Zamfara had less than 50 soldiers attached to it and the soldiers beat up and prevented people who intended to vote for the APC. All these things happened and we also have videos.

“And when something happens and we call the soldiers, they don’t come. Therefore, this was just something that was staged. This is not my first time losing in an election. I contested for Senate in 2015 and lost. After losing, I contested again and won. I’m a politician, the struggle continues.”

Going by Matawalle’s claims, the ruling APC won the gubernatorial poll in Kaduna State, while Matawalle lost his bid in Zamfara, and the APC-led administration of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, who later joined other governors in the suit, also lost the governorship poll to the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in Kano State.