Zamfara State deputy governor, Mahdi Aliyu Gusau, has reportedly got the backing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to take over Bello Matawalle’s seat as the governor of the state.
This followed Governor Matawalle’s June 29 defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) alongside other elected political office holders in the state.
However, Gusau stayed back, saying he was not carried along on the defection plan.
Matawalle and other elected political office holders in the state had dumped the PDP. But Gusau stayed back, saying he was not carried along on the defection plan.
The deputy governor predicated his decision to unseat Matawalle on May 24, 2019, a Supreme Court verdict, which voided the victories of all APC candidates at the elections.
In its ruling, the apex court declared all the candidates that contested on the platform of the PDP winners in all the elections.
The Zamfara Police Command is blocking Gusau’s attempts to assume office as governor, a situation that prompted a reaction from the PDP yesterday.
The PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan condemned what he called attempts by the police to undermine the statutory powers of the deputy governor.
In a statement signed by Ologbodiyan, the PDP claimed that Matawalle lost his seat the day he defected to the APC. The party cautioned the police against harassment of the deputy governor.
It also slammed the police authorities in Zamfara for “unlawful and vexatious” obstruction of a planned rally by the deputy governor.
The PDP said the deputy governor was vested with statutory powers to take the seat of the governor “in a situation where the governor has vacated his office”, in line with the extant ruling of the Supreme Court.
The statement reads: “Instead of harassing the deputy governor, the police, as agents of the law, should be providing him all the protection and privileges, particularly as the formal process for his official declaration given the vacation of office by Matawalle has already commenced at the Federal High Court.
“The police should know that by virtue of Section 221 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as well as the judgment of the Supreme Court in Faleke v. INEC (2016), that the Zamfara governorship mandate belongs to the PDP and that Gusau, not Matawalle, is now the holder of that mandate, given Matawalle’s willful defection to the APC.
“The PDP’s mandate is in no way transferable to the APC and the police and all security agencies should be guided by this.”
The PDP also cautioned banks and other financial institutions to be wary of “unapproved” financial transactions with the cronies of Governor Matawalle, particularly, given the alleged moves to sweep the coffers of the state ahead of Matawalle’s “inevitable eviction by the court”.
The statement further reads: “Such institutions should be very circumspect in their dealings with impostors who have since ceased to represent the state, immediately Matawalle defected to the APC.”
The party called on the Gusau to remain resolute and not be deterred in any way as the people of Zamfara are solidly behind him in resisting imposters and deserters at this trying time.
It urged the people to remain united, saying that the mandate, which they willingly gave to the PDP, will never be allowed to be stolen by “traitors”.
