The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, recently sold a state of the arts lie to the press regarding the “no fly zone” the federal government imposed on Zamfara air space.The PDP falsely claimed the APC-led Buhari administration is planning to declare a state of emergency on Zamfara state in order to give power to the opposition APC.
It’s very illogical, sad and unfortunate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to have stood so low in creating such a false and non-existing alert of a sinister plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Federal Government to forcefully take over the governance of Zamfara state through an imposition of an orchestrated state of emergency in the state. Every one is aware of the security situation and how the PDP-led administration under Governor Bello Matawalle has in the last one and a half years exhibited signs of misrule and has turned the state to a graveyard.
The allegations by the PDP are nothing but bunch of unnecessary, baseless and unfounded stories as they used to be. It was re-generated by the remaining power-mongers in the PDP just to seek political attention within the APC administration and undermine and subvert the democratic security order of President Buhari in Zamfara state by creating the impression that the federal government, under President Muhammadu Buhari, is to blame for the Insecurity in the state while the real enemy of the people is the PDP with its incompetent governor.
For record purposes, it is very important to recall and to even ask the PDP and Governor Bello Matawalle whether the PDP has ever won in any of the previous elections before 2019 and whether the party won a single seat in the 2019 elections? All the elected seats declared by INEC were won by the APC and because the Nigerian judiciary has turned to who has what to give, the highest bidder has it. Zamfara has been a traditional no go area to the PDP since 1999 and will forever be. The first time the PDP temporarily ruled Zamfara was when Mamuda Shinkafi decamped from the ANPP to the PDP after the 2011 elections and happened to him when he tried to go for a second term? He lost woefully and the same scenario awaits Gov. Matawalle in 2023. For someone who got the governorship seat on a platter of gold the people of Zamfara had thought he would consolidate that Kangaroo court victory by putting the welfare of the entire state before any other thing but so far he has proved to be incompetent, incapable and a disgrace to good governance.
The PDP should take an objective stock of the Matawalle administration since May 29, 2019 to date and tell Zamfara people and Nigerians what successes he has brought and how woefully he has failed before they can complain or allege that there is a plot by the APC to derail the Matawalle administration and forcefully take over the control of the state. How could the PDP shamelessly comment on an election they failed completely and woefully ? Why are they afraid of the next elections and the story behind the previous elections?
Zamfara is home to the APC and if elections are conducted a million times, APC would always win with landslide as it did in 2019 before the ill- famous judgement which went in favour of the traditional political money bags, the PDP. Gov. Bello Matawalle has never been a political threat to any of the APC aspirants and would never be because he is known as a politician who enjoys barking but when it comes to real action, his performance has always been below average. On the allegation by the PDP that the APC tried to convince the governor to leave his party and join the APC, what impact would he make rather serve as a spy to the PDP? The APC has numerous quality aspirants who individually are all better than him so he would only be a liability in the APC.
The PDP is only trying to cover the incompetence of the Zamfara administration under governor Bello Matawalle who Nigerians particularly, the people of Zamfara had high hopes on but proved to be lacking administrative skills. Apart from globe trotting which has become his hobby, the governor has by his actions so far proved to be a failed administrator and neither the PDP machinery nor his political record can save him from shame in 2023.
Nigerians would recall that PDP had on December 19, 2020, issued similar false statement alleging plots by the National Caretaker Committee of the APC, using an impostor, as spokesperson, to heighten insecurity in the Northwest part of our country which was later found to be a false alarm and fabricated lies from the PDP.
More so, the same serial lier the PDP Publicity secretary had in another statement alerted of conspiracies by the APC to use the said impostor to destabilize Northwest states, particularly Zamfara, by creating the space for acts of violence and blame it on Governor Matawalle. But it is now very clear that everyone can give testimony that Bello Matawalle is the major leading factor and is contributing over 80% to the crisis, killings, banditry, kidnapping and violence in Zamfara state via his so-called “419 Repentant Bandits”.
In fact, the major concerns for majority of Nigerians today are not the political statement but on the series of devious and unfoulding statements/comments by Governor Matawalle regarding the names of sponsors of banditry and bandits hide out in zamfara and the minning activities that has been exposed to be encouraging acts of terrorism, banditry and kidnapping in the state and beyond.
For now, the PDP should leave APC and President Buhari to take up their responsibility of confronting bandits, terrorists and kidnappers since Governor Matawalle- the chief security officer of Zamfara has failed to secure the people of Zamfara from criminals, rather siphoning funds in the name of signing peace treaty with criminal. He should account for the state’s security votes which he claims he is using to settle ” imaginary repentant bandits”. How many of the so- called repentant bandits have completely renounced banditry? We are yet to see.
This unfortunate incident is now on record that the PDP Governor Matawalle is the first Governor, particularly in the North West, to adopt such approach of dashing criminals money in the name of reconciliation. It’s indeed a set back rather than a solution.
Consequently, since the PDP had advised Governor Matawalle to stop his intervention approach or disobey the urgent actions taken from the Presidency to protect zamfarans, by now, we shall know who are the real enemies of Zamfarans.
Even, if the PDP rejects the state of emergency in Zamfara state for a political reason, the people of Zamfara state would patiently wait for the time to check PDP out, by rejecting them at the polls, the way they did it during the last 2019 general elections and vote for APC again.
A lot of things claimed by the PDP nowadays defy descriptions. In the first place, they are yet to furnish Nigerians with reliable information about what they know because the prefer to hide the truth and put the blame on President Buhari. However, as we March towards 2023, all the lies they have been selling to unsuspecting Nigerians will haunt them in due course. The declaration of state of emergency in the last 20 years was a manifestation of the PDP under the obnoxious Obasanjo rule. So what is the PDP afraid of with regards to Zamfara? It’s a case of the chicken going back home to roost.
Musa Gusau,Secretary,Concerned Citizens of Zamfara for Good Governance
