By Comfort Obi

I don’t know about you, but there are States in Nigeria, I constantly go to Goggle to know the names of their Governors.

It is not that I am  uninterested in the States, it is just that their Governors neither have positive nor nuisance value. They are just there, answering “Their Excellencies, the Executive Governors of so and so States.”

The emphasis on Executive is mine. It is very important to them and their Aides. Addressing them as Governors is not enough. It is as if a Governor does not already have executive powers so, they need to re-emphasise it. Nigerians and titles.

Even some Local Government Chairmen now answer Executive Chairmen. Just like a number of Houses  of Representatives and Assembly Members are no longer satisfied with answering “Honourable.” It is “The Rt. Honourable.”

But these are by the way. I was talking about States which Governors I constantly ask Goggle to tell me their names They are just there. Contributing nothing to National discourse. A number of them live in Abuja, and visit their states. They are visiting Governors.

But many of them are active. They talk. You hear their voices. You feel them. Even if they are just of nuisance value. You cannot miss them.

Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State is one of the Governors one cannot miss.

He is one of Nigeria’s “Miracle Governors.” Of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, a party which he once swore he would dump because of what he called the unbearable attitude of a South-south  Governor, Matawalle was thoroughly defeated at the Governorship polls by the All Progressives Congress’s, APC, candidate. But 48 hours, (or was it 24 hours?)  I forget now,  to the swearing-in of the APC winner, the Supreme Court truncated it.  He was kicked out, and Matawalle declared the winner, and sworn -in. He shares this miracle with the Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri.

But in the North, along with Governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Babagana Zulum of Borno State, Matallawe has been in the news. And now, he has opened the pandora’s box.

The Governor has just revealed that high profile Nigerians were behind the abduction of the 317 female students of Jangebe Girls’ Secondary School, Zamfara. He said the high profile sponsors even went as far as offering the bandits money to  abort the release of the girls.

And, because of the Zamfara abduction, we now know, according to the Federal Government, that Helicopters drop arms and food stuffs for bandits. Do they also  drop for Boko Haram? Who knows?

Dr Obadiah Mailafia, remember him?,  must be having a good laugh. When he made the allegation, months ago, that Helicopters were transporting arms to bandits across the country during the COVID-19 lockdown, many people, including yours truly, dismissed his claims. Doubting Thomases, we now know. The Federal Government gives that as the reason it declared Zamfara State a no-fly-zone on Tuesday. Now that we know, the Federal Government owes Nigerians a full disclosure of where the Helicopters come from. Do they emanate from within or outside the country? How do they enter our airspace, and drop arms undetected, How vulnerable is Nigeria?

I have not been to Zamfara State since Matallawe,  but I was there twice  as a Commissioner on the Police Service Commission, PSC.

I don’t know if the state has developed now. When I visited, aside from the  beautiful natural environment, I didn’t see much development infrastructure-wise. Not even  the Government House was good enough. Big houses. Expensive furniture. But dirty.

We were given Guest Houses within the Government House to stay. Two others and I, including former Lagos and Benue States Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni,  couldn’t stay. The bedrooms were unkept. The restrooms  made me sick, as it did the two others. So, we opted for a not-too-big, very decent hotel.

The allegation, then, was that the Governor was, usually, away to Abuja, and was a visitor to the State. He apparently didn’t care much.

I may be wrong, but I will be surprised if the state has done any better under Matallawe. If not, it is likely not his fault. The man  inherited a State under the stranglehold of bandits; a State reduced to one of the most dangerous states in Nigeria.

Since his inauguration, the Governor has not had a breather. He has been running  after bandits. He was the first to begin a negotiation with them. He granted them amnesty just so they leave his state alone. They began to surrender their guns in exchange for amnesty and rehabilitation. His style became a model for other states under the burden of bandits. He even began to  intervene, in those states each time bandits struck. On a couple of times, his help was acknowledged.

But criminals have large appetites. The more you try to feed them, the more insatiable their appetite is. They are like blackmailers. Once you start paying a blackmailer, you never stop.

The Governor’s agreement with bandits notwithstanding, they kept wreaking havoc on the state.

The criminal activities of the bandits got to a head this order day when they invaded  Jengebe Girls’ Secondary, and abducted 317 students in one swoop. For about one week, they held them hostage, putting the country on edge, the state in disarray, and the Governor, confused and talkative.

It was during one of those talkative moments, when the Council of Traditional Rulers visited him to condole with him, that Matallawe told them they would be shocked to know those behind the abduction of the students. He said he knew them. While Nigerians tried to absorb that, he dropped a second secret.

During the visit of the Federal Government delegation to the State led by Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika to, also, condole with him, he disclosed that some people  were giving the  bandits money not to free the students.

The Governor says he knows the big people behind the abduction of the students  but wouldn’t name and Shame them. He knows those who were offering the bandits money not to release the abducted girls, while their parents reeled in pains and trauma and sleepless nights, and our country, once again, reduced to International ridicule. But he wouldn’t name them,

The questions are: If Governor Matallawe knew all along, those behind the  abduction of the girls,to the extent  that he knew they were giving the bandits money so as not to release the girls, why would  he not let on immediately? What is he hiding? Who is he protecting? Has he given their names to the Police, the DSS, or any other Security Agency? Did he give their names to them?

He is threatening to make their names public. What’s preventing him from doing that? It is the most natural thing to do. It is the right thing to do. Or, is he waiting for the bandits to carry out another abduction?

The President should hold Governor Zamfara State to his words. He should make the names of the high profile people behind the abduction public. He should name them, so we can shame them.

I really wonder why Matawalle and the other Governors of bandit – states were not invited to the Security Council meeting in Abuja on Tuesday. After disclosing that he knew the high profile sponsors, he should have been invited for debriefing. Instead, they took decisions behind him. Mr President declared Zamfara State a no-fly-zone, and banned every mining activity, So announced the cerebral National Security Adviser,  Major General Babagana Monguno, Rtd.

The Governor felt slighted. No wonder he chuckled at the decisions, and dismissed Abuja as ignorant of the security situation in Zamfara State when Dr Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State Governor, and Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, visited him. He made nonsense of the Council’s meeting and decisions.

Matawalle: “It seems the Security Council doesn’t understand the nature of the security problems in Zamfara state. But if they decided to take such action let them go ahead.

“I’m not afraid of anybody, and the problem of insecurity in the state predated my administration.

“Nigerians are waiting to see the outcome of the Security Council’s resolution to see if these bandits would be crushed. If the Federal Government fails to crush them after this resolution, then Nigerians will understand that they only sat and served themselves tea, nothing more.”

He has started an investigation into the abduction of students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jengebe, he quipped.

Investigation?  I thought he already knew those behind the abduction. All he needs to do is hand the list over to  President Muhammadu Buhari.

Finally, Mr President should  listen to Governor Matawalle, and order a thorough investigation of his list. Mr President should put a stop to this nonsense. It is getting out of hand. Indeed, it is out of hand already. And remember: that was not Mr President’s  promise in 2015. Whatever happened to that promise? And whatever happened to trust?

*Obi is the Editor-in-Chief/CEO of The Source (Magazine), https://thesourceng.com.  Email: [email protected], [email protected]