By Ken Afor
In a request to Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State and his chief security officer, Minister of State for Defense, Bello Matawalle, has asked them to indicate where the Federal High Court sitting in Sokoto issued a judgment to repossess 50 vehicles.
On Wednesday, Ibrahim Dosara, a spokesman for Matawalle, informed journalists about this development in a statement.
Matawalle, the immediate past governor of the state labelled the statement from Zamfara Government as being deceptive, illegitimate and a boldfaced untruth towards the court which is comparable to disrespecting the court.
He asserted that the court had not approved the raiding of the residence of the ex-governor in its verdict.
According to the statement: “There is nowhere in the judgment delivered by the Federal High Court Sokoto Judicial Division on Friday in the suit filed by the immediate past governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle Maradun on the breach of his fundamental rights and that of his family by the present government of Zamfara State under Dauda Lawal Dare where the court ordered forceful breaking into his residences in Gusau and his home town Maradun, to take away his properties and those of his family, including 50 vehicles donated to him and the presidential candidate then, Bola Ahmed Tinubu by friends and well-wishers for campaign, being the Northwest coordinator for Tinubu/ Shettima Campaign.”
The Minister however challenged the governor to provide documents from the court ordering the forfeiture of the said vehicles.
According to the statement, “In view of the above, I am challenging the governor to release any of the court documents which stated the order to retrieve the vehicles in question.
“What the Federal High Court Sokoto Judicial Division did was dismiss the case filed by former Governor Bello Matawalle, following his decision to withdraw the case after series of advice and consultations with family, friends, political associates and supporters.”
