By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
A pressure group, Movement for the Restoration Of Peace in Zamfara State, has raised the alarm over an alleged plot to assassinate the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Mattawalle, even as it charged the security agencies in the country to beef up security of the Governor.
In a statement in Abuja yesterday by the National Convener of the group, Mohammad Lawan Usman, the group alleged that after failing in the bid to remove the Governor through the back door by coercing President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in Zamfara State, the fifth columnist are now employing the use of intimidation, subterfuge and blackmail all in the bid to remove the Governor.
It said the enemies of the state have gone to the extent of circulating fake videos of an aircraft which from its investigation, is a Hawker Siddley 125 business jet that landed on a rough strip in Guatemala on January 27, 2020, that was used for a very shady world of drug-running, claiming same to be plane being used to supply arms to armed bandits and ferry gold out of Zamafara State the video which has been trending in the social media networks.
“It is being used to blackmail Governor Matawalle in his efforts to restore the security of lives and property through his peace initiative accord”, the statement said.
“After the failed bid to coerce President Buhari into declaring a state of emergency in Zamfara State, the plot to assassinate Governor Mattawalle has thickened. Information available to us clearly indicated that a fifth columnist is in operation at the nation’s highest security cycle.
“We have it on good authority that the Governor of Zamfara State is under surveillance, in the bid to take him out. Intelligence available to us indicates that the nation’s security has been seriously compromised and the recent outburst of the National Security Adviser (NSA) who is a very senior Security Personnel of the government is a case in point, which has shown that all is not well with the Nation’s security architecture and there is the urgent need for President Buhari to authorize a discreet investigation and deep soul searching”, the group said.
Usman maintained that “the security of our Governor should not be in doubt, but in this case, it is not guaranteed since we are in the endangered axis. Such heavy concerns coming from a sitting Governor, cannot be easily dismissed, as it is an indirect allusion and petition on the roles of the NSA in recent times.
“By the trending pictures, it has become obvious that the fifth columnists are determined to tar the Governor all in the bid to pull him down at all cost. Information reaching us from high ranking security officer, is that security personnel are monitoring Governor Bello Mattawalle’s daily movements”.
Usman cautioned that should anything happen to Governor Mattawalle, people of Zamfara know who to hold responsible.
