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Tag: Bello Matawalle

  • Banditry: Gov. Matawalle suspends District Head

    Banditry: Gov. Matawalle suspends District Head

    Gov. Bello Matawalle has suspended the District Head of Badarawa in Shinkafi Emirate Council, Alhaji Surajo Namakkah.
    The district head was suspended indefinitely by the governor for conferring traditional title of Durumbu on a military officer who was arrested for allegedly selling ammunition to bandits in the state.
    A statement issued on Friday in Gusau by Mr Yusuf Idris, Director-General Media to the governor, said the state government would not tolerate anything capable of destroying the hard earned peace of the state.
    The governor pledged to ensure that anybody found wanting in anyway will be dealt with accordingly.
    Matawalle warned that henceforth, traditional rulers must seek approval before conferring traditional titles, to avoid unnecessary embarrassment to government and the traditional institution.
    According to the governor, the military officer was recently arrested in possession of 20 rounds of 62mm live ammunition.
    The suspect was said to be at the point of handing over the ammunition to one Kabiru Bashiru of Maniya village, Shinkafi Emirate, and had allegedly collected an advance payment of N100,000 from bandits.
    The governor commended security agencies for arresting one Dr Kamarawa who was in possession of four sets of military camouflage and army identification card.
    He said that Kamarawa specialised in the supply of army uniforms and medicaments to bandits in Zamfara.
    Matawalle expressed sadness over the involvement of some irresponsible security personnel in banditry, saying it would sabotage ongoing operations and make it impossible to end banditry in the country.
    “The nation will not defeat the criminals with such bad eggs within the security achitecture,” he added.
    The governor assured that all those arrested in connection with banditry in the state will face the full wrath of the law.
    He appreciated the support of heads of security agencies in the state in the fight against banditry and appealed to the people to cooperate with them by providing genuine information on criminals.
  • School’s watchman assisted bandits in kidnapping of Zamfara schoolgirls – Gov Matawalle

    School’s watchman assisted bandits in kidnapping of Zamfara schoolgirls – Gov Matawalle

    Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle has alleged that the watchman of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Talata-Mafara LGA of Zamfara was involved in the abduction of over 270 schoolgirls the state.

    Matawalle who made the remarks during an appearance Channels Television programme said bandits the named the watchman of the school as the facilitator of the abduction.

    Recall TheNewsGuru reported that over 270 schoolgirls who were abducted from the Jangebe’s school in February were released on Tuesday.

    Speaking on the identities of the abductors, the governor said bandits the named the watchman of the school as the facilitator of the abduction.

    Matawalle said an investigation will be carried out, but he did not reveal the identities of other abductors.

    “…Even the watchman of the school…. The children have mentioned that when they were there; after releasing them, the bandits were telling them (the schoolgirls) to greet the watchman for them,” he said.

    “They even mentioned his name that he is the one who gave them the go-ahead to come, so he was involved.

    “They have said this in front of the commissioner of police in Zamfara state. Investigation will be carried out and all people involved will be known.”

    Addressing he no-fly zone order issued by President Muhammadu Buhari, the governor said he has accepted the decision of the president, but added that he should have been consulted before the decision was taken.

    “I thought the security council should invite me so that I can come inform them and give them more information that can help them to do whatever they want to do,” he said.

  • Buhari’s aide gives update on release of Jangebe schoolgirls

    Buhari’s aide gives update on release of Jangebe schoolgirls

    Aide to President Muhammadu Buhari on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie has confirmed all 317 schoolgirls kidnapped from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Talata Mafara local Government Area of Zamfara State were released.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the Jangebe schoolgirls were released on Sunday and were received at the palace of the Emir of Anka waiting transportation to Gusau, the State capital.

    Onochie, giving the update on the release of the schoolgirls, thanked men and women of the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). She also expressed thanks to the Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle for the release of the schoolgirls.

    “317 kidnapped Jangebe School girls have been released safely. Kudos to the men and women of our @HQNigerianArmy and the @PoliceNG

    “Well done too, to the Governor and the Chief Security Officer of Zamfara State. When all the states work well, the nation is better of,” Onochie tweeted, following the release of the schoolgirls.

    At the time of filing this report, it is not clear how much was paid as ransom for the release of the Jangebe schoolgirls.

    Recall the Jangebe schoolgirls, 317 of them, were kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe in the early hours of Friday.

    On December 11th, 2020 bandits took 303 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina into captivity.

    On February 17, bandits kidnapped 41 students and staff of the Government Science Secondary, Kagara, Niger State.

    The 317 schoolgirls kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe is the latest in a series of attacks carried out by bandits on schools across the Northern parts of Nigeria.

  • Lawyer to drag CBN, Zamfara state to court over illegal N5bn gold deal

    Lawyer to drag CBN, Zamfara state to court over illegal N5bn gold deal

    A lawyer, Joseph Onu Silas, has threatened to drag the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor and the Zamfara state government to court over the reported striking a gold mining deal to the tune of N5 billion.

    But the Zamfara State Government has denied the accusation leveled against it by the lawyer.

    The lawyer in a letter addressed to the CBN governor and sighted by TheNewsGuru.com, TNG threatened to sue both the state government and the CBN if the illegal deal goes through.

    However, in a reaction on Friday, Special Adviser to Governor Bello Matawalle on Media, Alhaji Zailani Baffa denied such deal.

    Baffa in a statement said, “The attention of the Zamfara State Government has been drawn to a shocking and disappointing reaction in the media where a known lawyer displayed ignorance of law regarding the recent revelation made by Governor Bello Mohammed (Matawallen Maradun) over mining in the state.

    “The lawyer, Mr Joseph Onu Silas, has accused the Central Bank of Nigeria of violating its constitutional boundaries to trade in gold with the Zamfara State Government. He further accused the state government of claiming to own the gold deposits in the state.”

    However, Baffa said the CBN did not enter into any trade agreement with the state government as claimed by the lawyer.

    He said, “The fact is that the CBN, just like in agriculture, is willing to invest in mining, as part of its Anchor Borrowers’ Programme whereby the apex bank will invest an amount for the state government to supply it with the gold as proceeds of the investment.

    “This is aimed at boosting the mining sector in the country which is within the provisions of the scheme.”

    Baffa further explained that “the state government is not directly mining the gold by itself”.

    He added, “It will rather purchase the gold from the mining companies registered by the Federal Government in the state.

    “All Nigerians are aware that the Federal Government is in the process of re-registering qualified companies allowed to mine mineral resources in the state on its behalf, just as obtains in the oil sector, which Mr Silas mentioned.”

  • Matawalle dissolves all 14 APC council chairmen

    Matawalle dissolves all 14 APC council chairmen

    The Zamfara Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned the dissolution of the 14 Local Government administrations by the state government, describing it as unconstitutional.

    The state APC Chairman, Alhaji Lawal Liman, made the condemnation in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gusau on Friday.

    The state house of assembly had on Thursday recommended the immediate dissolution of all the councils for alleged negligence on security and financial recklessness.

    Gov. Bello Matawalle, after approving the recommendation of the house, appointed caretaker chairmen to pilot the affairs of the 14 councils.

    Nine of the chairmen who had defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were among those appointed as caretaker chairmen of the LGAs.

    Liman described the dissolution as a violation of the constitution, saying the APC as a law abiding political party would not accept it.

    He said the party would follow due process to challenge the government on the matter.

    “The matter of tenure of local government chairmen is before the court, therefore, we will follow the constitutional means to challenge the government over the issue.

    “This is very unfortunate, the way PDP led government is violating constitution to protect its political interest.”

    He also said that the dissolution was a “political blackmail” against the five LG council chairmen who refused to decamp to PDP.

    Liman called on APC supporters in the state to remain calm, saying the party was working to protect their interests.

  • Bribery: Gov. Matawalle extols EFCC, pleads for return of money

    Bribery: Gov. Matawalle extols EFCC, pleads for return of money

    Gov. Bello Matawalle of Zamfara has commended the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for exposing Chinese nationals who tried to block investigations against their alleged shoddy contract in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that officials of the anti-graft agency at its Sokoto zonal office are currently investigating a multi-billion naira contract by a Chinese company, which was awarded by the immediate past administration in the state.

    Two of the Chinese nationals, representing the company allegedly approached the EFCC zonal officer with a bribe of N100 million.

    Consequently, the officer asked the culprits to bring the money and on bringing half of it (N50 million), the Chinese men were arrested with the amount as exhibit.

    Reacting to the development Matawalle in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Public Enlightenment, Media and Communications, Mr Zailani Bappa, in Gusau on Thursday, said the attempted bribery further confirmed his earlier accusation that the company only collected the contract sum without executing the project.

    He was quoted as saying: “I want to specifically commend the leadership of Ibrahim Magu and his able Zonal Head in Sokoto, Alhaji Lawal Abdullahi, for moving this case to a significant stage by this arrest and further proving to the world our cries against the atrocities perpetrated by the immediate past administration in the state.’’

    He said the arrest by the EFCC of Messrs Meng Wei Kun and Xu Koi of China Zhanghao for an attempt to bribe the Head of its Sokoto Zonal Office in order to quash investigation into the multi-billion naira contract fraud in Zamfara cannot simply pass unnoticed.

    “Sometimes back, I cancelled the unexecuted multi-billion naira contract awarded to this same Chinese company and called for the refund of the money.

    “I still call on Mr President to assist the state government to fast track the retrieval of this money and repatriate it to the state so that we can actually provide the water and electricity to the rural areas,” Matawalle appealed.

    “It is pertinent here to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to further endorse his confidence on Mr Ibrahim Magu and his team as it is becoming obvious by the day that those calling for his removal actually have skeletons hiding in their wardrobes,” the governor said.