Zamfara Assembly Impeaches Deputy Governor Aliyu Gusau

By Gideon Njoku

The Zamfara House of Assembly has, finally, impeached the Deputy Governor of the State, Barrister Mahdi Aliyu Gusau.

Gusau was impeached on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, during Plenary.

This followed the endorsement of the report of a Panel  set up by the Chief Judge of the State,  Justice Kulu Aliyu to investigate the Deputy Governor on a number of allegations heaped on him by the Assembly. The seven-man Panel found him guilty.

The Assembly had accused Gusau of  abuse of office, criminal self-enrichment using public funds, and non discharge of his duties.

Not a few people believe that the allegations were trumped up charges and false.

Trouble started for him when he parted ways with the Governor, Bello Matawalle.

On principles, the Deputy Governor had refused to defect to the All Progressives Congress, APC, from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the Party under which both were sworn into office, after the Supreme Court sacked all the elected candidates of the APC who won the election. The APC-winner of the Governorship election and his Deputy were sacked less than 24 hours to their swearing-in ceremony, and thus, made way for Matawalle and Gusau in 2019.

But in late 2021, Matawalle had, inexplicably, defected to the APC. Since Aliyu-Gusau refused to join him, things have never been the same as he was rendered irrelevant in the affairs of the Government.

He was, finally, sacked from office on Wednesday, even when there is a Court order against that. The PDP is, also, in Court to recover to recover its mandate from Matawalle, given the fact that the Supreme Court had, in 2019, declared that the APC had no candidates.

If the ruling favours the PDP, Aliyu Gusau would automatically become the Governor of the State. But that is a big if

The sacked Deputy Governor is a son of the influential Lt.  General  Mohammed Aliyu Gusau, rtd,  former Chief of Army Staff, former National Security Adviser, and former  Minister of Defence.