A group under the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Youth Wing Mobilisation Vanguard, has cautioned the Zamfara State Governor, Lawal Dauda, over his recent media attacks against the military during a national television interview.
In a statement signed by the group’s chairman, Alhaji Ashiru Tukur, and made available to journalists in Sokoto on Wednesday, the group described the governor’s comments as an “uninspiring attitude” towards the Nigerian military hierarchy and the defense team.
“We would not have borther ourselves to respond to some of Mr. Governor’s claims during that live session on a national television, except the need to set the record straight especially on the priceless sacrifices the Nigerian military and other security agencies involved in tackling insecurity in Zamfara are making,” the statement read.
The group noted that the governor’s alleged rivalry with his predecessor and current Minister of State for Defense, Mohammed Bello Matawalle, has overshadowed his approach to good governance and made it difficult to protect the lives and properties of Zamfara people in his first year in office.
Tukur described the governor’s recent verbal attacks against the Minister of State for Defense and the soldiers sacrificing their lives daily to restore peace and security in the state as unbecoming of a chief executive.
“That interview has shown Mr. Governor’s weakness, poor judgment, and an inappropriate statement from someone who is supposed to accept responsibility for his failure to secure the lives and property of Zamfara people as promised when he assumed office about a year ago.
“His spirit-damping comment against the military hierarchy of not being committed to ending banditry challenges despite having security briefings on his table has just further proved his critics right that he was never ready to govern the state.
“His inability to offer meaningful support to the ongoing military operations in the state and Northwest as a whole.
“He claimed that because he does not have control over the military and other security apparatuses in the state he set up a local security outfit.
“How has that solved the problem especially as members of his local security are targeting his political ‘enemies’ and not the bandits who have brought the state to its knees under his watch.
“This is a governor who has abandoned his primary duty of providing good governance to our people but prefers flying from one country to the other with state resources that have not translated to any meaningful growth and development in the state.
” The recent attacks on people in Maradun, Tsafe, Zurmi, and other villages in Zamfara have nothing to do with the minister of state defence because he is instrumental to the improved military presence and operations we see in the state and other neigbouring states respectively.
“Just recently, Gusau, Zamfara State capital was attacked multiple times and many people were kidnapped and some lost their lives including a son of Dauda’s bosom friend Alhaji Musa Mallaha. He could not even secure his local government which is just a stone’s throw from Government House.” Tukur further stated.
The group accused the Zamfara government of refusing to cooperate with security agencies, saying this may be responsible for increased bandit attacks in the state.
“Why should Zamfara be different? As a former Governor of Jigawa State and current Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, has not been blamed for insecurity by his successor. Bandits attacked and kidnapped many people in Kiyawa and some areas of Jigawa State, yet the governor didn’t apportion blame,” it lamented.