Zamfara State governor, Bello Mohammed
(Matawallen Maradun) has opened up on how he was put under fire by his Southsouth colleagues over alleged ownership and mining of gold in Zamfara State.
He said the Zamfara gold ownership controversy was not only a lie, but was unnecessary, lamenting that it was his party (PDP) governors of the South south region that were championing crisis against him, saying that if PDP doesn’t put his house in order ahead of 2023, the situation would spell doom.
Bello gave the governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi a clean bill of health for dumping PDP for APC, noting that it was a worth decision he has taken.
In a release by his Special Adviser, Public Enligthenment, Media and Communications, Zailani Bappa on Friday, the governor fears for the future of the Peoples Democratic Party as time ticks close to 2023.
“I am having a very bad experience of recent from some of my PDP Governor colleagues which I still find very puzzling. For instance, the South-South Governors accusing me in the media are PDP Governors and they are the same people who brewed controversy over the so-called Zamfara Gold, premised on deliberate misinformation and outright lies”, Governor Matawalle lamented.
The governor further maintained that he was surprised that the APC led government didn’t politicise the gold controversy, but defended him correctly, adding that as PDP colleagues, he expected them to find out his own side of the story before taking him to the gallows of the media.
“As the brouhaha lasted, I commend the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari for being supportive of our efforts to organise the economic sector in the state to avoid using the mineral deposits to promote insecurity in our dear state”
“Today, the Federal Government is issuing licences to deserving Companies to operate in the mining sector in the state. The biggest company with an investment of billions of naira is owned by a Nigerian from Anambra state. And I wonder where the idea of Zamfara state owning the gold mines emanated from. As at now, the state Government does not have a hand in any of the mining activity in the state because the constitution does not empower us to do so”, Matawalle noted.
“I call on the South-South Governors to eschew intellectual idleness and support its people to operate modular refineries as provided by the law and lift their people out of fear rather than sit behind and start chasing shadows rather than substance.”
