Over the past two weeks, supporters of the opposition party in Zamfara State, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have been preparing for and hyping the visit of the immediate past governor of the state, Bello Muhammad Matawalle, who is also currently serving as the Minister of State for Defense.
Ironically, this is his first visit to the state capital since he lost (re)election as a sitting governor in 2023.
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However, one can’t help but ask: why all the frenzy about the visit especially from the APC camp? What exactly is special about a man visiting the land of “terrible human beings” as the former governor once described the state after leaving office? Just asking, innocently.
I think there’s nothing wrong with a home visit or welcoming someone back home. What I can’t fathom are the deliberate efforts and resources invested to make an ordinary homecoming newsworthy through media stunts. This exposes the APC’s and Matawalle camp’s desperation to fake political relevance—at least on the internet, where polling units don’t exist.
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True heroes don’t need orchestrated hype or publicity stunts to create a buzz around their homecoming. Naturally, townsfolk and followers voluntarily become excited when reconnecting with leaders who left real impacts in their lives.
That is, leaders whose absence is effortlessly felt through the vacuum of impact it created. Not those whom ordinary people became better off after they left the mantle of their stewardship, and certainly not those who failed to deliver good governance when they were in power, only to disparage their people after losing elections.
Lest we forget, in an interview granted to Channels Television in September 2024, Matawalle uncourteously described the people of our dear Zamfara (including you, if you’re from the state) as “terrible human beings with devilish ideas!” Belittling the state you once governed and disparaging its people—who once entrusted their mandate to you—as “terrible” and “devilish,” just because you lost an election, is not only a reckless and ungrateful statement but also a shooting from the hip.
One problem with words is, once spoken, they can’t be taken back. Although Mr Matawalle can’t unsay what he said on national television (the footage is still all over the internet), I expect him to use this period of his visit for retrospection and redress—especially now that he is trying to reconnect with, and maybe seek a “second chance” from those “terrible human beings.”
One would expect him to offer an unequivocal apology for that uncouth statement he uttered, which is unbecoming of any responsible citizen, let alone a former governor and a serving minister.
More importantly, I hope Mr Matawalle will also use this opportunity to showcase the contributions he offered to the Zamfara State Government toward addressing the security challenges facing the state, given his current ministerial portfolio that oversees some critical national security organisations.
As former Governor Matawalle takes his tour around the state capital, I am confident that deep inside him, he will be awed by how the city has become better than he left it two years ago. The littered streets once filled with political billboards and campaign posters are now clean with developmental landscaping befitting of a modern city. The once deplorable roads, marred by wheel-breaking potholes, have now been transformed into smooth, standard roads.
Welcome to the new Zamfara State, the Honorable Minister.
Please enjoy the product of the rescue efforts of Governor Dauda Lawal. He will continue to erase all the bad legacies of stagnation that your party, the APC left in the state. Insha Allah.
* Tudu is a Senior Special Assistant on Media, Office of the Secretary to the Zamfara State Government.
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