By Miftaudeen Raji 

Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara state has blamed his inability to secure a second tenure on his move against the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. 

Matawalle stated this while speaking during an interview with DW Hausa on Thursday.

The governor alleged that some elements in the Federal Government worked against his re-election bid in the just concluded gubernatorial election in the state.

Matawalle, who contested under the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC was defeated by Dauda Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. 

Recall that the Zamfara governor, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and the Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje had dragged the Federal Government to the Supreme Court over the scarcity of cash occasioned by the CBN’s cashless policy.

According to Matawalle, that prior to the general elections, there were plots to punish himself, Ganduje and El-Rufai over their stance on the naira policy.

He said, “What’s being said is that we went to court over the new naira notes redesign. They said myself, Ganduje and El-Rufai would be punished accordingly.”

Meanwhile, while Uba Sani of the ruling APC and anointed candidate of El-Rufai narrowly escaped defeat, Ganduje’s candidate, Nasir Gawuna was beaten by Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP.

Matawalle further alleged that all polling units were flooded with military officers with the aim to intimidate voters.

He said, “Three days to the gubernatorial election, they sent over 300 vehicles conveying soldiers into Zamfara.

“Such a high number of soldiers! If they could send them to us to fight insecurity, it would be better. But they only sent them during elections,” he added.