The Minister of State for Defence, Muhammad Bello Matawalle and immediate past Governor of Zamfara State has warned his political opponents to desist from linking him to the activities of a wanted bandit leader, Bello Turji,.
A tatement from the Minister’s office, issued on Sunday, Matawalle blamed some elements within the Zamfara State government of skewing the narrative of insecurity challenges in the state against him.
This was a reaction to a viral audio-visual clip on the social media space, suggesting a link between him and banditry in Zamfara State.
Specifically, the Minister accused the current Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led administration in the state of the plot to tarnish his name, saying that his hands were clean.
“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,” the statement noted.
While blaming the development on the antics of people he called enemies of Zamfara and Nigeria’s progress whom he said opposed his ministerial nomination by President Bola Tinubu, he added that he got the required security clearance from relevant security agencies before the confirmation of his ministerial appointment.
He maintained that 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