Former Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Mohammed Matawalle who is currently the state Minister of Defence has warned his political opposition to stop using a wanted bandit kingpin, Bello Turji, from damaging his name and reputation. The Minister was speaking through a statement from the Ministry of Defense, issued yesterday Sunday.
According to Matawalle some elements within the Zamfara State government are skewing the narrative of insecurity that has bedevilled the state to paint him as the daredevil.
The statement was coming on the heel of a viral video clip making round on social media platforms, where Bello Turji, a deadly bandit kingpin is linking him with banditry in Zamfara State.
The former governor specifically accused the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP-led administration in the State of the plot to tarnish his image, claiming that his hands were clean.
The statement said, “Bello Turji’s audio was unprofessionally synchronised with his video to accuse the former governor of injustice in the conduct of the reconciliation by the then Zamfara State government.
“However, the video/audio editor unprofessionally disqualified his work so much that one can vividly notice the failure of the audio and video clips to simultaneously synchronise,” he said.
He blamed the development on the plans of those he described as enemies of Zamfara and Nigeria’s progress, claiming that the same people opposed his ministerial nomination by President Bola Tinubu.
Matawalle added that he got a positive nod from security agency clearance from all the relevant security agencies before his nomination as a ministerial appointee.
The former governor claimed, he led Zamfara State as Governor with all sense of humility, honesty, and justice, reiterating that the audio-visual in question was unprofessionally concocted and poorly produced to tarnish his image, hence it should be disregarded by the public.