- Safiu Kehinde
Zamfara state governor, Dauda Lawal, has told his predecessor and current Minister of Defense, Bello Matawalle, to resign and face the allegations against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Dauda charged the Defense Minister while speaking at an interview on Television Continental’s (TVC) Politics Tonight Programme on Wednesday.
According to Dauda, Matawalle was alleged to be involved in promoting insecurity in Zamfara.
He alleged that the Defense Minister harboured bandits in the state government’s house where ransoms were said to be collected.
“If I were him (Matawalle), I will resign and face all the allegations (insecurity & money laundering) against me and that would have been more honourable.
“Because from all the informations we’re getting, my Predecessor (Matawalle) was fully involved in some of these banditry issue.
“Typical is the fact that there was a permanent secretary when his children were abducted, it was unfortunate he had to pay ransom through the government house. It was also very clear based on all the allegations that bandits are being kept in the government house.” Dauda said.
While expressing his displeasure over Matawalle’s ministerial appointment amid the allegations, Dauda further disclosed N70 billion misappropriation linked to the Minister before his appointment.
“In May last year, there was this allegation of misappropriating over N70 billion Naira. And when we took over, we realized that the N70 billion was a child’s play compare to what we had.
“All this information are with EFCC and how I wondered how he was cleared by the security operatives before he is confirmed as the Minister.” Dauda added.