‘No-Fly Zone’: PDP raises alarm over alleged plot by APC to forcefully take over Zamfara

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday said that it has uncovered a plot to take over the governance of Zamfara State by the federal-ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party said it was forced to alert the public of a sinister plot by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government and APC to forcefully take over the governance of Zamfara State through an imposition of an orchestrated state of emergency in the state.

While alleging that Governor Bello Matawalle has been under pressure to decamp to APC, PDP said it rejects the schemes of APC to undermine and subvert the democratic order in the state.

PDP further alleged that APC was creating the impression that Zamfara State Government under Bello Matawalle is to blame for the failure of the federal government to contain the state of insecurity in the state.

The party said it is instructive to recall that the plot by the APC to derail the Matawalle administration and forcefully take over the control of the state started immediately after the Supreme Court handed him victory in the Zamfara State governorship election; a plot which heightened after Governor Matawalle refused the pressure to decamp to the APC.

News Express recalls that PDP had on December 19, 2020 issued a statement to alert of plots by the National Caretaker Committee of APC, using an impostor, as spokesperson, to heighten insecurity in the Northwest part of the country.

The party in that statement, further alerted of conspiracies by the APC to use the said impostor to destabilize Northwest states, particularly Zamfara, by creating the space for acts of violence and blame it on Governor Matawalle.

Urging Nigerians to be on alert PDP also expressed concerns on what it describes as series of “devious statements against Governor Matawalle by the APC, a party that has been exposed to be encouraging acts of terrorism, banditry and kidnapping in our country”.

Saying that the attempt was by “power-mongers in the APC administration to undermine and subvert the democratic order in Zamfara state, the PDP insisted that “our party rejects this attempt”.

The party noted that “equally disturbing is the attempt by some APC leaders, who are masquerading under extraneous organizations, to seek political capital out of the situation in Zamfara state, which escalated due to the failures and compromises of the APC-led administration”.

Further allegations by the PDP kidnappings, banditry, terrorism and general insecurity are happening in APC controlled sates in the north west and north east, not only in Zamfara State saying it is a manifest failure of the APC-led federal government Presidency to guarantee the security of lives and property in the state and tasked President Buhari to live up to his responsibility under democracy- to secure life and property in all parts of Nigeria, including Zamfara State.

While demand ing that the APC should leave Governor Matawalle alone and take up their responsibility of confronting bandits, terrorists, kidnappers and vandals, particularly those they brought from other countries, the PDP invites Nigerians to further note how the APC has been quiet over disturbing videos, which had gone viral, showing self-confessed bandits admitting their fury of being abandoned by the APC after the party use them to muscle the 2015 and 2019 elections.

It argues that it is further instructive to state that the Matawalle administration adopted an intervention approach as a distressed measure following the manifest failures of the Buhari Presidency to guarantee the security of lives and property in the state, adding that it is on record that Governor Matawalle is not the first Governor, particularly in the North West, to adopt such approach in the face of the huge incapacity of the Buhari administration to save lives.

PDP expressed worry over the declaration of Zamfara State as ‘No fly zone’ by President Buhari.

It noted in a statement that is even more worrisome that “the Buhari Presidency will gloss over Kaduna, Niger and Mr. President’s home state of Katsina, where killings, kidnapping and abduction have become a daily routine, only to be contemplating an emergency situation in Zamfara.”

The party argued further: “More so, there is escalated banditry, terrorism, kidnapping and other forms of violent acts in APC controlled states of the North West, like Kaduna and Katsina;  in the North East of Borno and Yobe as well as the North Central states of Niger, Nasarawa, Plateau and Kogi, yet no attempt has been made by the Buhari Presidency to intimidate the governors of the various states, seek to impose a state of emergency or declare such states as “no fly zone”.

It will be recalled that already, Governor Matawalle had declared that Mr. President was

misinformed on the decision of imposing a “no fly zone’ on Zamfara, as recommended to him by Gen. Monguno.

PDP emphasised that this is a selective approach to fighting banditry, terrorism and kidnapping and charged Buhari Presidency to go back to the drawing board and adopt a holistic approach to quell the prevailing insecurity in our nation.

Maintaining that it will not allow the Buhari Presidency to tag and intimidate Governor Matawalle for seeking to find solutions to a very depressing situation, the PDP therefore directed Governor Matawalle to stop his intervention approach and charged Nigerians to hold President Buhari and his administration directly responsible for any further assault or killing of innocent citizens in Zamfara State.

In the statement signed by PDP’s national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party called on President Buhari to recall the allegations in the public space “of alleged complicity by his National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Babagana Monguno, in the unfortunate situation in Zamfara state, upon which our party had called for investigation.

“The PDP therefore vehemently rejects any attempt to impose a state of emergency and derail democratic order in Zamfara state by the APC as a means to forcefully take over the state.

“It must be noted that such obnoxious move is capable of triggering a national crisis, worsening the already tensed situation, derailing our democracy and threaten our corporate existence as a nation.

“Our Party calls on Governor Matawalle to remain strong and focused at this critical time. The party also urges the people of Zamfara state to remain calm and continue to cooperate with our security forces, under the democratic order, as they intensify efforts to rid the state and our nation of these vicious outlaws”.