By ISHAQ ZAKI

The Zamfara Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the state considering the lingering security challenges facing it.

This is contained in a statement issued in Gusau on Saturday by the State APC Publicity Secretary, Yusuf Idris.

Idris said: ?We are appealing to President Bola Tinubu to enforce a state of emergency in the state over insecurity.

?People of Zamfara have lost the confidence in the ability of the administration of Gov. Dauda Lawal to deal with the security situation in the state.

?The Zamfara APC chapter commended the ongoing onslaught on bandits and terrorists in the state by the military in the North-Western states under the coordination and supervision of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.?

According to Idris, the ongoing military operations in the North-West as directed by Tinubu are certainly yielding unpredictable unprecedented results.

He added, ?Bandits? leaders and their gangs have been subdued by the current development of the Federal Government?s fight against banditry.

?This is very impressive and needs to be sustained at all costs so that the region will be free from all forms of criminality.

?As a party, we observe with dismay how the Zamfara Government is trying to sabotage the ongoing onslaught through his media campaigns.

?This is to distract the effort of the federal government under the coordination of the Minister of State for Defence.

?We have observed that Lawal as the Governor of the state has never in anyway supported the military operations in the state in terms of logistics.?

Idris recalled that the military had recently warned him to steer clear from their activities and efforts.

?Gov. Dauda is now bent on distracting the operation through media campaigns and propaganda.

?This is just as he is toying with the security of lives and properties of innocent Zamfara citizens for his political gains,? he opined.

The publicity scribe said that calling on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on Zamfara was necessary so as to spoil the ?mischievous plan?.

Idris said, ?This need is highly desirable so that the operation can go unhindered and the security operatives can go into the state without the governor and government of Zamfara politicizing the manhunt.

?This is as the state Governor, Dauda Lawal, has already begun by portraying himself as if he?s the sole sponsor of the operation, for which he has no hand.

?Since he took over the mantle of leadership in the state as governor in May last year, Lawal has vehemently nurtured attacks on his predecessor, Matawalle.

?This included direct affront on the Minister?s property and baseless accusations, which always fell on deaf ears.

?On many opportunities, Matawalle had offered himself both as Minister of State for Defence and as a citizen of Zamfara to partner with the governor in fighting the bandits.?

According to him, he did so even before the situation escalated to when the acts of banditry, kidnappings for ransom and other heinous crimes became a daily affair, decrying, ? but the governor failed to comply.

?The president, concerned by the general outcry, directed Matawalle to lead the Defence Headquarters with the CDS to embark on full operation in fight against insecurity in the North-West.

?The Minister and his fighters had effectively carried out the onerous task, decimating the criminals, their leaders and camps.

?They have been receiving accolades from all over the world except from Gov. Dauda Lawal and his team who are not happy with the onslaught being handled by Matawalle.

?The governor is now, as usual, turned to politicising and indirectly fighting Matawalle.?

This, Idris claimed, was by revisiting his earlier accusations that Matawalle had embezzled Zamfara?s money.

According to him, Lawal has been claiming that Matawalle left nothing for his administration.

Idris added, ?As well as buying airtime at some media outlets to claim being the one coordinating the fight alongside the military without any recognition of the minister.

?In his TV interviews, Gov. Lawal sarcastically asked, ?who?s Matawalle, i am dealing with the Minister of Defence, Badaru, National Security Adviser and the President and I don?t need Matawalle.

?When in reality, it?s Matawalle who was charged with the responsibility which saw the elimination of the most dangerous bandit, Haliru Sububu giving confidence to Nigerians that the others too will soon follow by meeting their Waterloo.

?We are not surprised because a governor who can grant approval of over N1.3 billion as alleged, to sponsor terrorism, denied the act.

?But he immediately redeployed all the Directors of the state Ministry of Finance, whom he believed were the ones who leaked the memo and still denied despite the redeployment letter in circulation, cannot be given public trust.?

Idris alleged that it was the same Lawal who budgeted over N19 billion for his wife?s kitchen, but kept recalling allegations against his predecessor, Matawalle.

He added, ?When he cannot give account of the billions released to the state by the Federal Government in cash and grains as palliatives.

?These were distributed by the Governors of other states to their citizens but have remained a mirage in Zamfara.?

Idris added that the efforts of Matawalle in the fight against banditry when he was Governor in Zamfara were far ahead those of Lawal.

?This was because Matawalle had distributed 200 brand new Hilux vehicles to the security agencies in the state on the 8th July, 2020.

?The well equipped vehicles were distributed amongst the Police, Nigerian Army, Air force, NSCDC, Immigration Service, FRSC, DSS, EFCC, NCoS, ZAROTA and HISBA Commission.

?At the instance of the former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), retired Lt.-Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, who was represented by GOC 3 Division, Maj.- Gen. Nuhu Angbazo and the then CP. Usman Nagogo.

?The vehicles were judiciously utilised and the desired result was achieved.

?On the issue of the reconciliation and disarmament, the Matawalle administration executed it through the positive workable advice given by all the security agencies as against Lawal?s comments that it failed,? he added.

According to Idris, all the Emirs, Islamic scholars and all major critical stakeholders in the state contributed immensely in all the meetings and strategies on how to end banditry.

Also, they were highly accommodated for better results that were achieved at the end.

When contacted, the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Alhaji Haliru Andi, said the state leadership of the party was aware of the APC?s allegations.

?We have seen the press release, we are making arrangements to react on the empty allegations against the PDP-led government in the state by the APC,? Andi explained. (NAN)

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