…as Matawalle threatens to deal with him
The cold war between Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle and his deputy, Mahdi Aliyu, worsened on Saturday as the governor threatened to deal with his deputy if he dares him.
This is just as the state House of Assembly has summoned Aliyu over the recent rally he organised in the state.
Things fell apart between the governor and his deputy since Matawalle defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
Aliyu, the deputy decided to stay back in the PDP while all the senators, House of Representatives members and state lawmakers defected to the APC with Matawalle.
Last week, apparently testing his popularity, Aliyu organised a PDP rally in the state.
But the rally sparked an outrage from APC supporters, following the fresh killings recorded in the state as around the period.
Supporters of the deputy governor, however, argued that the APC also held a mega rally in the state to welcome Matwalle and other defectors into its fold.
Meanwhile, Zamfara State House of Assembly has summoned the deputy governor over the rally, fueling suspicion of a plot by the state lawmakers to impeach him.
Governor Matawalle, in an interview with DW Hausa Service on Saturday, vowed not to tolerate any act of disrespect from the deputy governor.
According to him, “I just read about the impeachment plan and called someone for clarification who told me that they would not accept it from the deputy governor to be organising rallies when people are being killed.
“As governor of the state, I promised to work together with the deputy governor, irrespective of our political affiliations. But I won’t tolerate disrespectful attitude from him.
“I won’t join issue with him but if he dares me, I will give him the treatment he deserves.
“We all agreed to halt any political rally welcoming politicians into the state since we lost some of our supporters while welcoming us.
“The deputy governor should have notified me of whatever he planned to do. Being of different political parties does not mean I am no longer his boss. Since the defection, he has stopped associating with me.”