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Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal has challenged his predecessor and current Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to step down and clear his name over allegations of sponsoring banditry and money laundering while he was governor.
Lawal, who made the remarks in an interview on TVC on Wednesday, said if Matawalle still had integrity, he should have honorably resigned and cleared his name of the various allegations leveled against him.
Responding to questions about the allegations against Matawalle, Lawal said:
“If I were him (Matawalle), I would resign and face all the charges (of insecurity & money laundering) against me. Because from all the information we have, my predecessor (Matawalle) was fully involved in some of these banditry issues,” Lawal said.
Ripples Nigeria previously reported how a popular Islamic cleric in Sokoto State, Mallam Bello Asada, accused Matawalle of sponsoring some bandit leaders including Bello Turji, Ada Allero and Sububu who have taken the North West state hostage.
Asada, who made the allegations in a viral video on Sunday night, accused Matawalle of purchasing Hilux vehicles for the bandits and also providing huge funds for them.
The Muslim cleric who also criticized the recent N20 million bounty given to Turji by the federal government, described it as a farce because according to him, the announcement was made only to make the government look serious in fighting terrorism and banditry.
READ ALSO:Governor Lawal agrees with CDS Musa, says ‘it’s only a matter of time before Bello Turji is ousted’
The cleric added that Matawalle was not serious in the fight to oust the notorious bandit leaders and their gangs because he knew where the bandits were.
On Monday, Lawal also accused Matawalle of looting the country and leaving the state coffers empty for him.
Speaking in an earlier interview on Politics Today on Channels TV, Lawal stated that when he took office, he realised that over N250 billion was not accounted for under Matawalle.
“The EFCC made a statement around May 21, 2023 or thereabouts alleging that N70 billion had been stolen. That means before I took over. By the time I took over, I realized that the N70 billion they were talking about was child’s play,” he said.
“So far based on the available records, we are aware of over N250 billion that is not accounted for. This is very funny. Let me explain to you the situation I inherited. I inherited a very dysfunctional situation. When I took over, there was not N4 million in the Zamfara State Government account – it was empty.
“There are four months of salary arrears. For three years, no Zamfara native wrote WAEC or NECO. I had to pay N1.3 billion for NECO and N1.6 billion for WAEC. Some students got their certificates after we finished WAEC and NECO,” the governor added.
Step aside and face the charges against you, Zamfara Governor, Lawal, challenges Minister, Matawalle first appeared on Latest Nigeria News | Headlines from Ripples Nigeria.
