The Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, has been accused of working with terrorism in the country.
Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State disclosed this during his appearance on TVC on Wednesday, where he also said has been linked with purchasing vehicles for a notorious bandits leader, Bello Turji, and others when he was governor.
Governor Lawal said, “If I were him (Matawalle), I would resign and face all the allegations against me because, from all the information we are getting, my predecessor was fully involved in some of this banditry.”
He said his predecessor housed terrorists at the government house, and and paid them ransom through the government.
“In May 2023, there was this allegation of misappropriation of N70 billion. We realised that the N70 billion was a child’s play compared to what we have. This information is before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and I wonder how this guy was cleared by the security operatives to become a minister.
“We are still waiting to hear from the EFCC; the case has been on for a year now. This is people’s money; we need the money in Zamfara to address the challenges we are facing.”
A presidential aide contacted to speak on the matter declined comment.
“You will get the answer to your question when the President announces the new cabinet list soon,” the source said.
Governor Lawal’s accusation would not be the first time the minister would be accused of sponsoring banditry.
It would be recalled that in January 2022 the opposition Peoples Democratic Party had demanded for Matawalle’s resignation for his alleged banditry sponsorship.
An Islamic cleric, Bello Asada, once accused Mutawalle of sponsoring bandits when he said Matawalle bought vehicles for Turji and other bandits.
He said, “You didn’t love especially because of God. Murtala Bello said your godfather has bought vehicles for terrorists, among them is this Halilu Subububu. The defence (state) minister has bought a brand new car and given it to him (is he not the one who’s called ‘Wankin Dan Kanoma’). There is also Ada Aleru.
“I know that he has purchased about 34 vehicles and distributed them to leaders of terrorists. He (Halilu) who I was accused of purchasing a car; was the Zamfara State governor who gave him a brand new 2019 model Hilux, not a second-hand car. People like Ado Aleru were given. I was with the police; Bello Turji was given.
“Decent people like the police, military, and civil defence who are looking for Hilux were not given, only for them to use our money to buy brand new Hiluxes for terrorists.”
Mutawalle had between 2019 and 2023 granted amnesty to terrorists in Zamfara State, but Turji, said in July 2024 that the scheme only emboldened bandits.
Turji said he killed one of the bandit leaders in his Shinkafi LGA for peace to reign, but the governor later allegedly sabotaged his efforts.
He said, “Any person living in Shinkafi, Zurmi, and Isa (Sokoto State) cannot deny this claim. There is a particular group of bandits whom the former governor pampered. I chased the group from Shinkafi, I killed their leader, Dudu, for peace to reign in Shinkafi. The group had 200 arms, but the governor later hosted them (Dudu’s boys) at the Government House.
“But the government failed to ask the group to surrender their weapons. Another group led by Bashari Maniya has over 300 guns. I seized 30 from them. Where are the remaining? And they never surrendered their weapons to the government.”
He alleged that some of the bandit leaders involved in the peace truce moved to the Sokoto metropolis after giving their arms to their boys kidnapping for ransom. He said the boys were making returns to their leaders living in Sokoto town.
He named some of them as Bashari Maniya, Kabiru, and Buhari.
