The Northern Youths Awareness (NYA) has accused Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, of being unsettled by the growing political influence of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, ahead of the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n

According a statement on Wednesday, the National Coordinator of NYA, Mustepha Gaya, claimed that Governor Lawal, a key member of the People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP), is worried about Matawalle\u2019s loyalty to President Bola Tinubu and his increasing prominence in Northern politics.<\/p>\n

According to Gaya, Lawal views Matawalle\u2019s rising political stature as a threat, especially due to the Minister\u2019s close ties with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).<\/p>\n

He alleged that the PDP is using Lawal to orchestrate distractions within Zamfara State in a bid to diminish Matawalle\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n

Reports from Zamfara and parts of neighboring Katsina State in the Northwest paint a grim picture of ongoing violence as armed bandits continue to wreak havoc on local communities. These criminal gangs have launched brutal attacks, abducting, killing, robbing villagers and travelers, and engaging in widespread cattle rustling.<\/p>\n

While casualty figures are often debated and sometimes exaggerated or downplayed by political actors, the human toll remains alarming, according to local sources.<\/p>\n

The causes of the conflict are viewed from different perspectives. Some analysts point to the impact of climate change, particularly reduced rainfall, which has led to competition over scarce arable land and pastures, fueling tensions in these agrarian communities.<\/p>\n

Others, however, attribute the crisis to deeper structural problems, citing corruption, the collapse of governance institutions, de-industrialization, rising poverty, and a culture of impunity that has taken root in both state and local governments in Zamfara.<\/p>\n

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The escalating violence has left many residents trapped in a cycle of fear, with calls for more decisive action to tackle the underlying issues that have allowed the region\u2019s insecurity to fester.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatawalle\u2019s support for President Tinubu has shaken Lawal, who is now being used by the opposition to create distractions in Zamfara,\u201d Gaya stated.<\/p>\n

He further claimed that Matawalle\u2019s growing political strength poses a significant challenge to Lawal and the PDP\u2019s chances in the 2027 elections.<\/p>\n

The NYA coordinator also reminded the public of unresolved allegations from Lawal\u2019s tenure as Managing Director of First Bank, where he was accused of financial misconduct.<\/p>\n

Gaya also suggested that Lawal\u2019s alleged past dealings with former Petroleum Minister Alison Diezani could further complicate his political future.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatawalle is aware of Lawal\u2019s secrets, which is why the Governor has been launching media campaigns to defend himself. But covering up won\u2019t solve his problems,\u201d Gaya said.<\/p>\n

He further advised the governor not to gamble with the security and lives of Zamfara people for political gains.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Matawalle has maintained his distance from the insecurity ravaging Zamfara, taking an oath on the Holy Qur\u2019an to affirm his innocence.<\/p>\n

He reiterated his commitment to supporting President Tinubu\u2019s administration and ensuring the APC\u2019s dominance in the North.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Northern Youths Awareness (NYA) has accused Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, of being unsettled by the growing political influence of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, ahead…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":567661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-567660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigerianewspapers.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigerianewspapers.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigerianewspapers.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianewspapers.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianewspapers.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianewspapers.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianewspapers.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigerianewspapers.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianewspapers.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigerianewspapers.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}