Gov Matawalle in troubled waters after defection, faces danger signal of deputy gov remaining in PDP

Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State may have run into troubled waters after his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday. The Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Mahdi Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, resisted defecting to the APC with the governor. He insisted on remaining on the PDP while his principal is in the APC. The Deputy Governor maintained that he will remain in the PDP to serve out the mandate of the party derived from the Supreme Court after the 2019 general elections.

He emphasised that he has been in the PDP with his father since 1999, adding that Governor Matawalle did not consult with the PDP stakeholders before defecting to the APC.

Deputy Governor Aliyu Gusau had in a media interaction on Wednesday declared: “I am still in PDP. I am not going anywhere. My father was in the PDP. We have been together in the PDP since 1999. I remain in PDP.

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“I want to remind people how we came to the leadership affairs of our state.

“We were given this mandate at the Supreme Court. So, we have to be grateful to (the) Supreme Court and to almighty God. That is why I decided I am not going to leave my party. I will still remain in PDP.

“Myself and His Excellency, the governor, and people don’t even know how we started; It began from that time. I have kept the trust; I follow his instruction dually till this moment.”

The deputy governor was not perturbed about what the response of the governor would be for not joining him to the APC. According to Gusau, “This is not the first time it is happening. It has happened in other states. It is just for the governor to understand and agree for us to continue to work for the people of Zamfara. We can still work amicably for the interest of the people.

“Now, God has given me the privilege to be the leader of PDP in Zamfara, and by the grace of God, I will do my best for the party to win 2023 (election) in sha Allah.”

Deputy Governor Gusau pointed out that any plot to impeach would require a lot of work to succeed.  “My impeachment will be a serious matter. It was God that brought me to this position. Nothing will happen, but I will leave everything to God,” he said.

Indeed, impeaching the deputy governor would require the same process of impeaching the governor.

Governor Matawalle is expected to react differently to the refusal of the deputy governor to follow him to APC. The governor had dissolved the state executive council prelude to his defection to APC, to weed out those commissioners and advisers who do not defect to the APC with him.

The conflicts over the refusal of the deputy governor to join the APC with his principal are expected to erupt in a few days from now. How Governor Matawalle will weather the conflicts can only be imagined.

The governor suffered a setback when bandits killed one of the lawmakers in Zamfara who precipitated in welcoming Governor Matawalle to the APC. The danger signal is already illuminating in the state.