…. Says intelligence Report marked ,Matawalle,El- Rufai, Ganduje For Polls Defeat.
Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle says the the federal government was responsible for the defeat at the March 18 gubernatorial and House of Assembly Elections in the state to punish him for his stance on the Naira policy crisis.
Matawalle was one of three governors, Nasir El- Rufai of Kaduna and Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello, all of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC who dragged the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN to court over the Naira Redesign Policy .
Their action elicited public attention and within few days,more governors joined the suit and judgement was passed by the Supreme Court ordering the authorities to allow the coexistence of the old and new naira notes until December 31.
According to the former federal lawmaker , who, told this publication a couple of years back that he had never lost any election since he delved into mainstream politics, the March 18 election was heavily militarised as no fewer than 300 trucks carrying soldiers took position in the state with 50 sent to strategic locations.
The governor who disclosed his ordeal and that of his party in the hands of the military to DW Hausa , said he was warned earlier that the election may not go his way because of the Naira Redesign case.
Matawalle lost his re-election bid to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dauda Lawal whose candidacy got cleared by the Supreme Court a few days to the election.
Lawal scored 377,726 votes to defeat Mr Matawalle, who polled 311,976 votes.
The governor lamented that the state had challenges of insecurity and several attempts made to the Federal Government to send soldiers to put the situation under control received deaf ears but a few days to the election they sent truck loads of soldiers to stop people from voting the APC.
“We’ve security challenges in Zamfara state and we’ve been asking them to send soldiers to us but they didn’t. But three days to the election (gubernatorial) they sent over 300 vehicles conveying soldiers into Zamfara. Such a high number of soldiers, if they could send them to us to fight insecurity it would be better. But they only sent them during elections.
“And I tell you, they were over fifty soldiers in our polling units in Zamfara. They (soldiers) were even straight about it that those voting for APC would not be allowed to vote. People were harrassed and beat because they wanted to vote for APC. We all have this evidence on video. When we called soldiers to come to our aid, they didn’t come. But I’ve left everything to God,” he said.
Mr Matawalle further revealed that he had intelligence report that the soldiers were sent to rig the election.
“When I saw that (the soldiers being sent) I knew they were up to something. That was why it didn’t bother me. Because I received intelligence report on what they were going to do against me. Not only myself but other governors that did something that is considered wrong….. Yes, what’s being said is that we went to the court (Supreme Court) over new naira notes redesign. They said myself, Ganduje and El Rufai would be punished accordingly,” he said.
Matawalle who said he has left the matter for his party however expressed happiness that the APC candidate,Bola Tinubu won the state with a wide margin during the presidential election .
