Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle is reportedly making silent move to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
It was gathered that the move by the Governor which had been in the works months ago, recently gathered momentum following the resolution of the crising rocking the Zamfara APC as immediate past Governor of the state Abdulaziz Yari and Senator Kabir Marafa have finally embraced peace after their protracted feud.
Should the Zamfara Governor defect to the APC, he would become the second PDP governor after Ebonyi state Governor, Dave Umahi, to dump the PDP for the ruling party in recent times.
Recall that Matawalle became Governor through a Supreme Court ruling. He was defeated by Muktar Idris, the APC candidate in the March 2019 Gubernatorial election by a large margin, but the Supreme Court pronounced him Governor after the APC’s primary election in Zamfara State led to series of legal tussles and conundrums.
According to a source quoted by Daily Trust, the purported move by the Governor might not be unconnected to the prospects of getting re-elected in 2023.
Similarly, the recent extension of the ongoing membership revalidation and registration exercise of the APC, by three weeks, is believed to be aimed at giving room to more prominent individuals to join the party.
The reported pressure from the APC Northwest Governors and party Chieftains, is also believed to be one of the reasons the governor is reportedly planning to join the ruling party. Out of the seven states in the Northwest, five states are currently governed by APC.
Matawalle has been a regular feature in the news in recent months largely due to the spate of attacks, killings and kidnapping by bandits in Zamfara as he has asked the Nigerian government to offer amnesty to the bandits upon laying down their arms. This has sparked controversial reactions from the rest of the Nigerian public.
It would be recalled President Muhammadu Buhari recently declared Zamfara a no-fly zone and also banned all mining operations in the Northwest state to curb the activities of the marauding bandits.
Meanwhile, the Publicity Secretary of Zamfara State chapter of PDP, Alhaji Farouk Ahmad, had in the past reportedly debunked the speculations regarding the imminent move of Matawalle to the APC.
In his words, “We are just hearing it from the grapevine as you do but I can tell you that PDP as a party is not informed about the decision, so I can’t confirm anything to you.”
