By Tom Garba, Yola
YOLA, North-East Nigeria – An elder statesman in Zamfara State, Fahad Adamu Gusau, has described the interview granted by the State Minister of Defense, Muhammed Bello Matawalle to Channels TV as the wailing of an indicted criminal gasping for innocence.
Matawalle, the immediate past governor of the state, now Minister of State for Defence was accused as the one behind the insecurity and economic downturn bedeviling the state, which has left the state with humongous debts but now shifted blame on the current Governor, Dauda Dare.
According to him, Matawalle’s interview was more of a child’s play as he struggled with no facts to present and ended up painting himself a man with no sense of communication.
He said the minister disgraced himself and the people of Zamfara, adding that a former governor could not speak good English to convince Nigerians that his hands are clean of the many killings by bandits in the state.
Gusau, who is following the administration of Dauda and had also followed the former governor’s closely, said, he (Matawalle) is the problem of the state while the serving governor has over the years proven himself innocent and he’s focused on serving the state well.
He cleared Dauda of the former governor’s allegations of being a ‘dubious’ man, pointing out that he has proven to be above board, and there’s no record of maladministration seen by the people of the state.
Gusau said: “In the interview, Matawalle succeeded to indict himself by not giving the right answers to questions raised by the journalist.
“When asked how much he received during his four-year tenure, Matawalle referred the journalist to the ministry of finance or the accountant general of the federation,band claimed the records are there.
“All through his responses, he was busy struggling and stammering because he was guilty of all the crimes committed against the people of Zamfara.
“I’m just replying Matawalle in my own way to understand that he exposed himself more to the many allegations raised against him than proving a point to defend himself, and it is high time he faces the truth about the many killings of innocent people. His hands are stained with blood.”
According to Gusau, the minister’s accusation of failure on the part of the governor to provide fertilizers on the contract he was awarded to was a way of dodging the crux of the matter. “The main issues in Zamfara are insecurity, kidnappings, and banditry, an unfriendly economy caused by former governor’s administration.”
The elder statesman challenged the minister to indict the governor else he will go to any length to exposed his (the minister’s) past dubious activities and present records of dealings with private, public, individuals, and international organizations.
Gusau further added: “Dauda is on record, he built business empires and people to serve humanity over the years. We knew him before Matawalle knew politics. He has been serving the country, especially the people of Zamfara in many areas.
“Dauda in the banking sector is a household name. In the act of kindness and humanity is an examplary. For Matawalle to address him as dubious, I think is just too ignorant to know what is meant to be dubious. In actually sense, he is the dubious person because he has failed to tell Nigerians the whereabout of billions of Naira which got missing during his four years tenure as a governor.”