By Moses Kolo
The Leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) North West zone has expressed its disappointment on alleged defamatory propaganda by the current adminstration on the immediate past Governor of the State and current Minister of State Defence, Mr Bello Matawalle.
Mr Garba Datti, the APC National Vice Chairman, Northwest disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday in Kaduna.
According to the Statement, APC alleges that the current People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led administration was sponsoring civil society groups to protest against
Matawalle on its behalf.
“APC North West learned with dismay that since 29th May 2023 when Matawalle left office as the Executive Governor, the new administration of Dauda Lawal made its primary role to drag Matawalle’s name to the mud at all costs; instead of facing the ugly security challenges that hold the state to the ground,”.
The APC North West opined that sponsoring some hoodlums to the National Assembly to protest and demand for Matawalle removal from the Federal Executive Council is not only laughable but also solidify his position in the APC led Federal Government.
“We therefore, condemned in totality such show of shame by the so called civil society groups,” it added.
The statement further stated that President Bola Tinubu as a core politician understood that whenever an opposition party is asking ‘to disown one of your own’, certainly that person posed a threat to everything they stood for.
“APC believed that the President knows Matawalle’s political value as his North West Campaign Coodinator for 2023 Presidential Elections whose immense contribution delivered to Mr. President the highest number of votes that gave our party the edge we needed to clinch the presidency with relative ease.
“Again, Matawalle was the Chairman, House Committee on Security, Public Safety and Intelligence of the House of Representatives between 2015 and 2019.
“President Asiwaju therefore, knows his worth and capacity, that is why he nominated him to ministerial position and posts him to Ministry of Defence in the first place,” it explained.
It however said that the 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 to protests at EFCC headquarters that Matawalle must be investigated.
“A failed move to prevent him from making it to ministerial list.
“We follow closely and understand that the greatest achievement of current administration in Zamfara is painting Matawalle black at all times since inception on 29th May 2023 where 70% of the press releases coming from the state government house Gusau were strategically drafted to paint negative image on the person of Bello Matawalle.
“So also all Radio and TV programs attended by the governor or his aids.
“All allegations made on Matawalle by the PDP Government in Zamfara that he have tie with bandits as severally claimed by the state government itself and it’s proxies such as this so called Civil Society Advocacy Groups for Accountability and Probity is a political propaganda to score cheap points which even in their wildest gullibility should have known that like any other ministerial nominee Matawalle had to go through rigorous security secrutiny before being confirm as the minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,”.
