Patriots for Peace and Social Development has defended the minister of state for defence, Dr Bello Matawalle, over allegations against him by Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State in his recent interview on Channels Television and Television Continental (TVC).
In a statement by the executive director, Dr Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, the group said it had become necessary to put the records straight to ensure that members of the public are not be misled.
Shinkafi dismissed any insinuation that Dr Matawalle has any link with bandits.
“A man of exceptional integrity, Matawalle, a devout Moslem publicly held the Holy Quran in Government House Gusau and swore that he had no link with bandits.
“It is unfortunate that Dauda Lawal would be on national television stations to blackmail him with impunity leveraging on his immunity as a serving governor as if being a governor is a licence to insult fellow citizens,” he said.
He said it was obvious that Matawalle inherited armed banditry from the government of his predecessor, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, and set out to tackle it head-on, adopting kinetic and non-kinetic approach which yielded positive results.
