Governor Dauda Lawal’s ”rescue mission” in Zamfara State appears to be paying off. Last Friday’s recovery of over 40 vehicles from the immediate past governor of the state, Bello Matawalle, is proof.
The vehicles, including three bulletproof cars and eight Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), were recovered during a raid carried out by the Police on the residences of the former governor in the state capital, Gusau, and his hometown, Maradun, as well as other locations in the state.
Against a backlash of criticisms and allegations of witch-hunting, Matawalle’s successor from the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Governor Lawal, could not help but ”celebrate” the recovery of the loot.
In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity), Suleiman Idris, the governor provided a background to the police raid as he confirmed that government’s stolen property were recovered during the operation.
“The Zamfara State Government has cleared the air on the operation of the Nigeria Police Force that led to the recovery of vehicles looted by the former State Governor, Bello Mohammaed Matawalle. In the early hours of Friday, The Nigeria Police Force stormed the residence of the former Governor, where over 40 vehicles were impounded.
“The Police acted on a court order and a search warrant was obtained for the operation. Recall that the Zamfara State Government communicated officially to former Governor Bello Matawalle and his Deputy to return all the missing vehicles within five (5) working days. We also lodged an official complaint with the Police on overriding public interest on wasteful looting of valuables, including official vehicles.
“Consequently, the Police sought a search warrant, which was duly given by the court and hence raided Matawalle’s residence in Gusau, Maradun Local Government, and another unidentified hideout. Over 40 vehicles were recovered including three bulletproof vehicles and eight SUVs.
”We want to reaffirm our commitment to recover all that belongs to the people. Our common resolve is to rescue and rebuild Zamfara. Recovering the proceeds of crime and public assets is a critical part of our rescue mission. We want to call on the people of Zamfara to remain calm as we continue to record massive improvements in the areas of security and the lingering water scarcity in the state,” the governor said in the statement.
The Zamfara case is just one out of many cases of massive looting of public treasuries by the immediate past governors in many states in the twilight of their tenure. Awards of frivolous contracts and actual payment for some of the contracts were also part of the criminal actions undertaken by the states’ chief executives to strip their states naked and compound the problems for their successors. Benue, Kano and Cross River States are not exceptions in this wicked act
But the Zamfara case is more pathetic, given the antecedents of Matawalle in just four years as governor. His state became the hotbed and epicentre of local banditry and terrorism in the country with killings and kidnappings of thousands of innocent people on a regular basis, in spite of the efforts of the security forces. Super-intending over one of the poorest states in Nigeria, despite massive exploitation of raw gold and other mineral resources in the states, Matawalle left a legacy of failure, despite the fact that his state actually competes actively with private players in the lucrative gold business and was able to sell N5 billion worth of gold to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2020 alone.
We recall that over a year ago, Matawalle embarked on a car bazaar as he doled out over 200 luxury cars to traditional rulers in a show of affluence. The Cadillac 2019 Model cars were presented to 17 Emirs, 13 Senior District Heads and 20 District Heads across the state to appreciate them as the custodians of the peoples’ customs and tradition, as well as to woo them into the fight against banditry in the state.
Despite the resources at its disposal, however, and compared to other neighbouring states in the North-West geopolitical zone, Zamfara, which could afford to splash over N11 billion on a car bazaar for its monarchs and pay huge sums of money to pacify terrorists and local bandits, has only one university – the Zamfara State University, established three years ago and which, as at 2022, was operating from a primary school with only four permanent staff. Infrastructure development in the state is also at a zero level, except the cosmetic facelifts in Gusau, the state capital.
We wonder what the former governor was doing with over 40 vehicles when his people were living in abject poverty and lack. Leaving an empty treasury is enough evidence of his administration’s financial recklessness, but he made the matter worse by refusing to hand over government vehicles in his possession.
We therefore commend Governor Lawal for his determination to restore sanity to the state as we urge him to remain sincere and committed to the worthy cause. We also call on other state governors, especially the newly-elected ones, to embark on a similar exercise to ensure that sanity and accountability return to governance to enable the people enjoy the real dividends of democracy instead of their common wealth being cornered by some rogues in government.
