On Wednesday, the Zamfara State House of Assembly removed Alhaji Mahdi Aliyu-Gusau, the Deputy Governor.
He had been battling to keep his job since Governor Mohammed Bello Matawalle defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Although the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the opponents of Gusau and Matawalle as winners of the 2019 election, the Supreme Court ruled in their favour few hours to the inauguration day.
It was a landmark judgement as all the elective positions the APC won were transferred to their opponents.
In this piece, Daily Trust takes a brief look at Gusau.
HISTORIC DEPUTY GOVERNOR
Born on December 5, 1981, Gusau was until the early hours of Wednesday the youngest deputy governor under the current dispensation. The politician, who usually chooses his words carefully became the PDP leader in Zamfara after the exit of Matawalle from the party in 2021.
CONTESTED BUT LOST REP SEAT AT 32
Zamfara State deputy governor, Barrister Mahdi Aliyu Muhammad Gusau.
2019 was not the first time that Gusau, a barrister, contested and lost an election, but while the Supreme Court ruled in his favour in the last general election, as stated above, he was not so lucky when he lost a house of reps election at the age of 32. He had contested the 2015 legislative election on the PDP platform.
PDP LOYALIST
Perhaps his loyalty to the PDP cost him his position as Gusau himself admitted this when he spoke about the impeachment move at the weekend. He had said the allegations levelled against him would have been dismissed assuming he joined the APC like Matawalle.
“|What they are saying is simple. If I finish from here and go and join their party (APC), everything will be forgotten. So, is there truth in the allegations? The only thing they want is to fulfil their wish but that is not how I do my things,” he said.
GENERAL’s SON
The impeached deputy governor unarguably rode to fame on the back of his father, Gen Aliyu Gusau (rtd). Respected in some quarters, feared in other places, the General held several high level offices. He served as National Security Adviser to three presidents; he was the Chief of Army Staff during Ernest Shonekan and briefly under Sani Abacha’s regime. He also headed different intelligence agencies, and was commander of the Nigerian Defence Academy.
Although, he is no longer actively involved in politics, Gen Gusau commands huge respect in the opposition PDP.
There were unconfirmed reports that he played a huge role in the emergence of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as Presidential candidate of the PDP in 2019. Some governors and other influential stakeholders were said to have succeeded in swaying the interest of party delegates to choose another aspirant besides Atiku, but Gusau alongside some PDP elders were said to have made a last-minute intervention on the basis that an aspirant being considered was not a match for President Muhammadu Buhari, who still won the election.
Not much is known about the education and personal life of the impeached deputy governor.
(Daily Trust)
