PEACE AND POLITICS IN ZAMFARA STATE:

(The Unlearnt Lessons) 

An Opinion By Zailani Bappa. 

In 2015, the All Progressive Congress rode into power at the center, not by chance, but by design. It was a direct fall out of people's collective decision to find a better option of what the majority, then, thought was a stunted progress in the country's pursuit for prosperity. It was not more of economic woes that pushed the gang-up against the Jonathan regime that shot up the APC to power, but more of the deteriorating security situation in the country as encapsulated in the international notoriety of Boko Haram.

Conversely, the APC government in Zamfara state descended down and "touched the ground" also, not by chance, but by grand design as scripted by divine intervention to correct the wrong done to the good for onward of eight years of deliberate mal administration, and non challance to the plight caused by it, and its sheer arrogance in the face of protest against the wrongs being done to the good people of the state.

The above two opposite scenarios should have served the Party a lesson as it grabs  power at the top and later  the loser in Zamfara, of the vulnerability of power even as it is wielded with an iron fist. This same lesson is not missed by the quintessential leader in Bello Mohammed, the incumbent Governor of Zamfara State.... and he cherishes and respects it. Matawalle it was who God anointed to correct the wrongs done to the people of Zamfara state where human blood flowed in continued swell of the river of sadness and sorrow. He saved lives and he saved wealth.

However, a bitter set of a fraction of the APC in the state who were disgraced by the Almighty Himself became hell bent on pulling down the successful Matawalle administration down to the same level of dishonour they earned by their misused two terms in office. The successes recorded by the Matawalle administration is being attacked with desperate vehemence. They have gone so low as to reach out to recalcitrant bandits to rewind the hands of the clock back to the point where they stopped.

However, the Nigeria Police have been on the alert on the antics of these crowd of losers who will want to continue abusing the sanctity of life to achieve their selfish and narrow political goals. For all the time the administration of Governor Bello Matawalle has worked against insecurity in the state, that is the equal time this group has continued to work against the peace and prosperity of the people. Heartily enough, it is the same amount of time the security operatives have checked them to their failure.

But in the last few days, the trend has begun to change where evil is succeeding over good. A group of suspects arrested by the Police were said to be released by "orders from above" before investigations were concluded. The emboldened rekeased suspects openly used their thugs to record and distribute video clips where they abused and insulted the state Police Commissioner silly and called him unprintable names. They also slandered His Excellency Governor Bello Mohammed and uncharitably accused him of masterminding their arrest. This is indeed, a sad moment for the fragile peace achieved by Governor Matawalle. Nobody wants to believe tgat anybody "above" will want to fracture the peace in Zamfara state once again for any reason. 

If the opposing lessons of 2015 at the Federal level in Zamfara State in 2019 are not instructive enough for those who want to go on  tampering with the lives of the innocent, the lessons that will befall the arrogant will be severe in 2023 so much so that those arrogant collectives "will get lost in their path back to their fathers' houses".