Minister of State for Defence and immediate past governor of Zamfara State, Hon. Bello Mohammed Matawalle, has asked incumbent Governor Dauda Lawal to sit up over the financial and security situation in the state.
He said this while denying the allegation that he almost emptied the treasury of the state.
Governor Lawal had alleged in a recent interview with Arise TV that his predecessor left only N4 million in the state coffers.
But speaking at a press conference in Kaduna through his former Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Ibrahim Dosara, Matawalle claimed he handed over N14 billion in bond proceeds, N2.6 billion in World Bank funds, and other financial grants to his successor.
He urged the governor to stop the blame game and focus on providing good governance to the people of the state.
He also urged the governor Lawal to stop tarnishing the image of the former governor whom he said did well while in office.
On salary arrears, Matawalle challenged Governor Lawal’s assertion that his administration left four and a half months of unpaid salaries.
He argued that only three months were owed and blamed Lawal’s threats to banks for salary payment delays.
Matawalle also took aim at the current administration’s handling of security, citing a recent surge in attacks and abductions.
He accused Governor Lawal of lying about security improvements and neglecting critical governance issues such as the nonpayment of WAEC and NECO fees for several years, incomplete road projects, and failure to properly implement the minimum wage.
“We are compelled by the circumstances… when he granted an interview to Arise TV… to respond to some tissues of lies and concoctions of the Governor,” Dosara said during the press briefing.
“Our average cash allocation then was 3.2 billion Naira monthly, which was grossly inadequate to pay workers’ salaries and allowances totalling 2.1 billion Naira,” he added.
However, Governor Lawal’s Director General, Media and Communication, Nuhu Anka, dismissed Matawalle’s defence, describing it as “a bunch of goofs.”
“I would have ignored Dosara’s blunders… but I find it very imperative to react in order to put the records straight,” Anka stated in a response.
He reiterated Lawal’s position that only N4 million was left in the treasury and questioned how a government claiming to have left over N42 billion failed to pay workers’ salaries and aides’ severance allowances.
Anka accused Matawalle of mismanaging state funds, engaging in white elephant projects, and plunging Zamfara into debt.
“Infact, the former Governor had seriously mismanaged the state government’s resources… He left huge debts, while the state went bankrupt during his tenure.”
He praised Lawal’s economic leadership, noting that the current administration has cleared salary arrears, implemented the N30,000 and N70,000 minimum wages, and stabilized state finances.
“Zamfara state is not owing anybody both within and outside the country,” Anka stated. “Government policies and programs are going on unhindered.”
Responding to Dosara’s criticism of the current government’s handling of security, Anka said: “This is laughable because everyone knows that the security situation in the state is far better at the moment than when Bello Matawalle was the Governor.”(Daily trust)
