Bello Matawalle of Zamfara said he lost his reelection because he fought against the naira policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress who polled 311,976 votes, lost to Dauda Lawal-Dare of the Peoples Democratic Party who garnered 377,726 votes in the March 18 Governorship election.
He said some powerful elements outside of the state masterminded his loss at the polls because of his opposition to the hugely unpopular policy by deploying military personnel deployed during the election than when the State Government requested military assistance to route out insurgents in order to perfect their plans.
“What’s being said is that we went to the court over new naira notes redesign. They said myself, Ganduje, and El Rufai would be punished accordingly,” Matawalle said in an interview with DW Hausa.
Speaking on DW Hausa, the governor argued that “We have had security challenges in Zamfara state, and we’ve been asking them to send soldiers to us, but they didn’t.
“But three days to the (governorship) 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 accused the Buhari regime of bullying the Zamfara electorate into voting the opposing PDP through heavy military presence.
“They were over 50 soldiers in our polling unit in Zamfara. They were even straight about it that those voting for APC would not be allowed to vote.
“When I saw that (the heavy deployment of soldiers), I knew they were up to something. That was why it didn’t bother me because I received an intelligence report on what they were going to do against me. Not only myself but other governors that did something that is considered wrong.
“People were harassed and beaten because they wanted to vote for APC. We all have this evidence on video. When we called soldiers to come to our aid, they didn’t come. But I have left everything to God,” he explained.
