The nomination of Bello Matawalle, the immediate past governor of Zamfara state, as a minister has sparked angry reactions among Nigerians.
Matwalle presided over the northwest state when armed bandits were on the rampage.
At the time, the former governor spent more time in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, than in Zamfara while the state was on fire.
Matwalle also paid some of the bandits, a decision that backfired as the terrorists used the money to acquire more arms and caused more havoc.
His nomination has now ignited several lamentations from people familiar with Matawalle’s antecedents, with many querying President Bola Tinubu for taking such a decision.
Mukhtar Ibrahim Shelby says the fact that the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, is in custody and Matawalle was nominated indicates that all is not well with Nigeria.
Bawa had accused Matawalle of siphoning N70 billion from the accounts of Zamafara state; weeks later, he was detained by the Department of State Security.
Shelby wrote on Twitter:
“Welcome to Nigeria, where Abdulrasheed Bawa is in detention, while Bello Matawalle is a ministerial nominee from Zamfara state.”
Abubakar Hidima, a Nigerian Engineer based in Malaysia, says by nominating people like Matawalle, Tinubu might be deliberately sabotaging northern Nigeria.
He wrote:
“So Tinubu couldn’t see seasoned professionals from the North like General Dambazau, instead saw Matawalle, Geidam & Tiktok blogger?
Sir, are you making efforts to rubbish the northern politicians and make them weak?”
Hamson Ahmad wrote:
“How on earth would a serious and reasonable government nominate Matawalle as a minister? I was shocked to see his name on the list. Matawalle is clearly a failure; he shouldn’t be any closer to this list.”
Aisha Umar Bello, a physiotherapist, wrote:
“Bello Matawalle? Rewarding him for being a failure? Wow.”
Jibril Khalil wrote:
“Matawalle’s nomination is surprising. There’s consensus even amongst his family members about his cluelessness. How he made it to Tinubu’s ministerial list beats me to my knees. He’s no different from the Ganduje people have been yearning against.”
