The festering power struggle between Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State and his deputy of nearly two years, Muhammad Aliyu-Gusau, climaxed on Wednesday after the impeachment of the latter.
The speaker of the Zamfara House of Assembly pronounced Aliyu-Gusau’s impeachment in Gusau, the state capital, after Wednesday’s plenary. Twenty out of the 24 state legislators voted in favour of the impeachment when allegations of financial misconduct, insubordination amongst other allegations were filed against Aliyu-Gusau.
Not even the Federal High Court ruling that earlier warned against the planned action could save the face of the impeached Deputy Governor.
While the lawmakers claimed to be acting in pursuit of public interest, the woes of the deputy Governor cannot be severed from his decision to remain in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when his principal joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) last year.
It is unclear if the impeached deputy Governor would seek redress in court as he was yet to react as of the time of filing this report.
But without much ado, the Chief Judge of the state has sworn in Senator Hassan Mohammed Gusau, a federal lawmaker representing Zamfara Central, as the new deputy Governor.
Political sojourn of a Trained Nurse
Although there are no reports that he practised as a professional nurse, 61-year-old Gusau obtained a Diploma in Nursing and Midwifery before his foray into politics.
Between 1999 and 2007, the lawmaker headed different Zamfara state’s ministries including Health, Commerce, Environment, Water Resources, Land and Housing, local government and chieftaincy affairs of Zamfara State.
Also, between 2007 and 2011, Gusau represented the people of Zamfara Central in the red chamber.
After being elected to the Senate 2007, he was appointed to committees on Science and Technology, Public Accounts, Marine Transport, Health, Gas and Employment, Labour and Productivity.
He was again elected in 2019 to represent his constituency at 9th National Assembly 2019 and was made the Chairman Senate committee on Ecology and climate change, a post he held until the recent appointment in the state.
Although Gusau has been a PDP member since he stepped into the political scene, he dumped the party for the ruling All Progressives Congress on June 28, 2021.
He was amongst the federal lawmakers from Zamfara who followed the Governor’s lead in the heat of his defection. According to the Senator, he cross carpeted because of what he described as the collapse of internal democracy and rationalisation of the PDP in Zamfara State even at the ward level.
Advocate of Midwives
For the two terms spent in the upper chamber, POLITICS NIGERIA gathered that Gusau sponsored four bills.
One of those bills, one seeking to amend the Nursing and Midwifery Act, was passed by the Senate in December, 2021.
The bill was tagged Nursing and Midwifery (Registration etc) Act, CAP N143 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, (Amendment) Bill.
Gusau, during the plenary, explained that the bill was seeking to remove obsolete provisions, empower the council to regulate the standards of Nursing and Midwifery in Nigeria by ensuring the existence of high quality of nursing and midwifery education in Nigeria, among other things.
Betrayal of calling?
Speaking on his assumption of office in a 2019 interview, Gusau described his representation of the Zamfara Central Senatorial District as a calling that one must not betray.
“It has been very interesting and fantastic. Honestly speaking, representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District is a call to service; a trust which one must not betray,” he told Tribune newspaper.
However, in what seems like a betrayal of the ‘calling’ Senator Gusau resigned his role in the Senate to take up the new job as the number two administrator of the state.
It is expected that his seat in the National Assembly will be declared vacant until a bye-election is conducted in Zamfara Central Senatorial District to fill the office.
