The All Progressive Congress in Zamfara has accused the Peoples Democratic Party of being behind banditry in the state.
The party while condemning the PDP’s call for Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara to resign, claimed that most of their members were involved in banditry.
Publicity Secretary of the APC in Zamfara, Alhaji Yusuf Idris, while addressing journalists on Tuesday said that PDP members were not happy with Governor Matawalle’s defection to the APC and that was why they were trying to intimidate him.
He said, “General Aliyu Gusau, who is the biological father of Mahdi Aliyu Gusau, the current PDP leader in the state, controlled over 70 per cent of the mining licenses before they were revoked by the Federal Government.
“One will be left with no option but to believe that, Aliyu Gusau and other PDP stalwarts were behind banditry in Zamfara because their mining sites were never attacked by bandits.
“Similarly, he (Aliyu Gusau) and other PDP members have never come to the state to sympathise with the government and people of the state whenever there was bandits attack.
“The reason why the PDP is not happy with the feat being attained by the governor and the APC in addressing insecurity in the state is because they are the ones behind the criminals, thus fighting bandits is like fighting the PDP in the state.
“After many open and nocturnal attempts by the PDP in the state to reverse the defection of Governor Matawalle from their party have failed, they now resorted to placing the Governor in a bad light on the issue of security.”
The Zamfara State chapter of the PDP had earlier called on Governor Bello Matawalle to resign.
The party noted that his government does not have the interest of the people at heart.
Chairman of the party in the state, Bala Mande, spoke through his deputy, Prof Kabiru Jabaka while ddressing newsmen at the secretariat in Gusau, the state capital.
According to him, over 50 innocent citizens were killed and kidnapped last week, adding that there was no single displaced persons camp in Zamfara.
He said that Matawalle’s carefree attitude to the welfare and security of lives has become a public concern.
