By Sadiq Abubakar
The Yoruba Youth Council (YYC) has called on the Zamfara State House of Assembly to impeach Governor Dauda Lawal over his alleged shoddy handling of the deteriorating security situation in their troubled state.
This is even as the youth council cautioned the Governor to stop attacking the Minister of State for Defence and his predecessor, Alhaji Bello Matawalle. The ethnic group also deplored the alleged refusal by the Governor to work in harmony with the Minister in the ongoing sweeping efforts by the military to crush the escalating banditry and thus the worrisome insecurity ravaging the state.
The YYC in a statement issued by its President, Comrade Eric Oluwole, said it is appalling and unacceptable that rather than cooperate with the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in crushing the worsening banditry in his state, Governor Lawal is fuelling the bandits in their bloody attacks which have claimed many lives because his is not a listening Governor.
According to Oluwole, information reaching the YYC through a document on social media shows that Governor Dauda Lawal, on July 2, 2024, approved a whopping N1.378 billion to finance the state government reconciliation programme with bandits in order to bring the menace to an end.
The money was to be shared among five notorious banditry kingpins including Kachalla Dogu Dide (N200 million), Kachalla Bello Turji (N200m), Ado Alero (N200m), Kachalla Halilu Sububu (N150m), and Gwaska Dan Karami (N150m). Among the quoted beneficiaries of the largesse were also six media promoters including a prominent online media outfit (N100m), Jackson Ude (N150m), Bashir Hadejia (N100m), Shaibu Mungadi (N50m), Tijani Lamaran (N50m), and Danbiliki Kwawanda (N20m).
Governor Lawal approved the money from the State Security Trust Fund following a request on June 30, 2024, by the Secretary to the State Government, Mal Abubakar Nakwanda. He had asked the governor to direct the state Ministry of Finance to release the said amount for distribution to the beneficiaries listed above as a matter of urgency.
Oluwole said Governor Lawal should be impeached as Governor of Zamfara State due to his conivance with and funding of bandits with state resources to fund the reign of terror in his state.
Recently, the Yoruba Youths Council monitored Governor Lawal’s interview on a TV station calling for the resignation of Alhaji Bello Matawalle, the Minister of State for Defence.
We make bold to say that viewing the current situation in Zamfara, Mr Governor could not have accused his predecessor of not doing enough. This is because Alhaji Bello Matawalle has tried his best to work with him, but Governor Dauda Lawal has refused his intervention.
We expect that the Governor of a state being ravaged by banditry everywhere is not supposed to jeopardise any effort from anywhere to crush banditry and restore normalcy in the beleaguered state.
Yoruba youths have been monitoring Zamfara issues over time, and we cannot allow Governor Dauda Lawal to continue molesting Alhaji Bello Matawalle as one of the best Ministers in the administration of Tinubu Government.
Bello Matawalle has been a man working hard for the good development of Zamfara state.
Oluwole noted the successes recently recorded by the nation’s gallant armed forces in the ongoing onslaught against banditry in the North, including the neutralization of the notorious banditry kingpin Halilu Sububu and the arrest of another gun running banditry kingpin, Bashir Hadejia.
The YYC President recalled the group’s statement on the achievements being recorded by the military in the ongoing battle to crush banditry titled “Governor Dauda Lawal Faces Public Scrutiny Amid Anti-Banditry Operations in Zamfara.”
According to the statement, in recent months Zamfara State has been a focal point of concern as significant developments unfold in the ongoing battle against insecurity and lawlessness, primarily attributed to the activities of bandit leaders.
The arrest of Bashir Hadejiya, a notorious gun running figure, coupled with the neutralization of infamous bandits such as Halilu Sububu, marks an apparent attempt by the state and federal authorities to regain control over a troubling situation that has plagued local communities for years.
However, these positive strides have been overshadowed by the increasingly complex dynamics between political leadership and public sentiment, particularly regarding Governor
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