An alleged plan by the Zamfara State government to set ablaze the Gusau residence of the Minister of State Defence, Dr. Bello Mohammed Matawalle has been uncovered.
Believed to have been spearheaded by some key government officials, the plot was uncovered by intelligence reports, leading to attaching some security personnel to monitor and abort the attempt.
According to reports, the government officials, who were said to have masterminded the grand plan to burn down the residence of the state’s immediate past governor in Gusau, the capital, on Thursday morning, disguising as hunger protesters, included a top government official, and two other aides.
The arsonists were allegedly given N5,000 each to execute the project, with further instruction to condemn President Bola Tinubu’s administration to set him up against the members of the public.
On the knowledge that security was aware of the grand plan, Governor Dauda Lawal was said to have hurriedly left the state at the early hours of Wednesday for an undisclosed location in Abuja.
Lawal, who defeated Matawalle in last year’s election, has been battling the minister, and is said not to be happy that President Tinubu appointed his predecessor into his cabinet.
Previous attempts to ridicule the former governor included the breakage into his residential houses in both Gusau and Maradun, his hometown, where assets and personal effects were cartered away by security agents, just within the week of the transition between Matawalle and Lawal.
The new governor also reportedly confiscated vehicles belonging to the cabinet members of the former governor.
He also berated the former governor on the state airport project, and allegedly set him up against the public with sponsored serial media trial.
Lawal was also said to have forwarded a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission against the former governor, accusing him of mismanagement and misappropriation of the state funds to the tune of N70 billion.
The incumbent governor was also believed to have sponsored a series of national protests at both the Presidential Villa and the National Assembly, requiring the two arms of government to sack Matawalle as minister.
When Lawal failed in his campaign promises to tackle insecurity within two weeks upon taking over power from Matawalle, he was said to have turned up his missiles against the minister, releasing a cross border gun runner from detention to connive in linking Matawalle with banditry sponsorship in the Northwest.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state has condemned an attempt by some protesters to attack Matawalle’s residence in Gusau.
In a statement in Gusau by its state Publicity Secretary, Yusuf Idris, on Thursday, the party lamented that thugs were positioned to destroy its members’ properties during the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protest in the state.
The statement read: “We observed that many thugs were strategically deployed to attack and destroy personalities and properties of the APC members.
“It is very unfortunate that on the first day of the protests, the protesters attempted to attack the former Governor Bello Matawalle’s personal residence”.
The party recalled that Matawalle’s residence was burgled by some thugs in 2023 and urged security operatives to prevent reoccurrence.
“Luckily, the quick intervention of the security personnel who blocked the protesters from destroying the minister’s house saved the situation.
“We commend the security agencies in the state for being proactive.
“Those political thugs, most likely implementing the directives of their leaders, would have razed down the minister’s house and property.
“They also attacked the residence of Senator Sahabi Yau at his hometown of Kaura Namoda, where they destroyed many valuables and damaged his Toyota Hilux van in the name of peaceful protests.
“We have earlier forecast the possible hijacking of the protests by the hoodlums and other miscreants in the state which they actualised.
“We wish to implore security agencies in the state to give our members and all well-meaning citizens the desired protection of lives and property.
“We are calling on youths not to allow themselves to be used by bad politicians, especially as the nationwide protest is supposed to be peaceful and address concerns in the country.
“The protest which is a constitutional right of Nigerians should be peaceful and without any threat to life and property”, the statement added.
