The Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, has been accused of not cooperating with the incoming administration of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dauda Dare, ahead of the inauguration on May 29.
The Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, Faruku Ahmed, in an interview with Punch on Monday, stressed that since Matawalle lost his re-election bid, he had abandoned the state and had been avoiding the Governor-elect.
Last week our correspondent reported that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it was currently probing Matawalle for alleged N70 billion fraud.
The anti-graft agency had said it “sent invitations to all outgoing Governors and Commissioners in a bid to commence investigation into alleged corruption and abuse of office perpetrated by them while in office.”
Bawa, who spoke through the Director of Public Affairs of the Commission, Osita Nwajah, explained that “It is intriguing that Matawalle would want to take on the role of a supervisor, who tells the EFCC whom to investigate. Is this a case of a “’thief’’ saying he must not be touched until other ‘’thieves’’ are caught?
“Unfortunately, it is not within Matawalle’s remit to dictate to the EFCC whom to arrest, when and where. Suspects in the custody of the Commission cut across all sectors and social class.
“The qualification to get a space in the Commission’s detention facility is to commit a crime. It does not matter whether you are a priest, Imam, Governor or minister.”
Meanwhile, in the interview on Monday, the PDP noted that Matawalle left the state two months ago and was not cooperating with the incoming administration in terms of the transition programme.
Furuku Ahmed said, “The incoming administration of Dauda Lawan Dare has been trying to get some relevant information from the outgoing administration, but Governor Bello Mattawalle is not willing to cooperate with the committees appointed by the incoming Governor to find out the true picture of things.
“Based on this, the incoming Governor appointed sub-committees to go round the ministries, departments and other agencies in order to get relevant information because Governor Matawalle is not willing to prepare handing over notes.
“Since Governor Matawalle is not ready to cooperate with the incoming administration, the appointed committees will find out the true situation of things for the incoming administration.
“So, we will not wait until the handing over date. We will continue to invite top civil servants and public office holders to come and make clarifications,’’ the PDP spokesman declared.
