Governor Bello Matawalle defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) because the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) did not treat him as one of their own but instead ignored his travails at the time he needed them.
The Special Adviser on Media and Communication to the Governor, Zailani Bappa disclosed this in a statement issued on Wednesday.
He recalled how the South-South governors descended heavily on him(Matawalle) during the solid minerals saga as well as when he congratulated the Ebonyi State governor when the South-East governor joined APC.
“The PDP did not treat His Excellency as one of its own. It instead, ignore his travails, abdicated its role as the front runner for the opposition and in that stead, seem to have some of its major actors in the name of South-South Governors bully his administration.”
“This was coming at a time when the state needed the total support of the Party to fight for the kind of support and privileges other troubled states are benefitting as a direct means of ending security crises bedevilling them as well as developmental projects as a fallout.”
“The Zamfara State Governor was left alone to fight like a one-man Army for his people with little result.”
Bappa maintained that the APC Federal Government (courtesy of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari) was giving him the support that it could, even as an opposition.
“But then, it must not escape our memory, however, that Governor Matawalle was a founding member of the APC in 1998 where he also served as the first Commissioner of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs as well as a two-term National Assembly member all from 1999 to 2007.”
“Hence, his return to APC is a homecoming rather than the entrance of a stranger.”
“A significant reason unknown to many, however, is that Zamfara people are more comfortable with APC than any other Political Party in Nigeria.”
“This is not to say that His Excellency cannot win election under any Political party in Zamfara state. He has demonstrated more than once that he could.”
“For instance, in 2007 when he was denied a third term ticket to bid for the National Assembly under a party he helped to form, he defected to the PDP (which marked his leave of absence in the APC) and contested the same position and won.”
“His infectious popularity and the love he has in Zamfara State transcends Party affiliations.”
“Hence, the love for APC and the comfort the people feel in that Party makes it imperative and fulfilment of the peoples desire for Governor Matawalle to take the final decision to return home and finally unite the Political class in the state so that we can collectively approach the menace of growing insecurity and speed up infrastructure for the benefit of our troubled state.”
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