Matawalle accuses FG using military to rig Zamfara guber polls in favour of PDP

Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State has accused the federal government of using the military to rig the state’s gubernatorial and state assembly elections in favour of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in retaliation for his legal challenge against the government’s new currency policy.

It would be recalled that Matawalle and his counterparts from Kano and Kaduna, Abdullahi Ganduje and Nasir El Rufai respectively, who are all members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) filed a suit challenging the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the Supreme Court over its new naira policy.

Matawalle lost his re-election bid to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dauda Lawal who polled 377,726 votes while the incumbent got 311,976 votes.

However, in an interview with the DW Hausa, the Governor alleged that over 300 truckloads of soldiers were sent to the state on the eve of the election with over 50 soldiers sent to strategic polling units to intimidate voters against voting for APC, adding that he was prewarned that the election might not favour him, as a result of his actions.

In his words, “We have security challenges in Zamfara state and we’ve been asking them to send soldiers to us but they didn’t. But three days before the election (gubernatorial) they sent over 300 vehicles conveying soldiers into Zamfara. Such a high number of soldiers, if they could send them to us to fight insecurity it would be better. But they only sent them during elections.

“And I tell you, they were over fifty soldiers in our polling units in Zamfara. They (soldiers) were even straight about it that those voting for APC would not be allowed to vote. People were harassed and beaten because they wanted to vote for APC. We all have this evidence on video. When we called soldiers to come to our aid, they didn’t come. But I’ve left everything to God.”