Recently, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Zamfara State raised an alarm over “plan by the state government to demolish” its headquarters on Zaria Road in Gusau, the state capital.
The party’s spokesman in the state, Alhaji Farouk Ahmad Shattima, told Daily Trust on Sunday that officials from the Zamfara Urban and Regional Planning Board (ZUREPB) stormed the office and marked it for demolition.
He said after Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle defected to APC, the PDP state headquarters was taken over and painted with the APC logo, hence that they had to abandon the office for them (APC).
“We decided to relocate to another building along bypass and they went and repainted it with APC logo overnight; we paid N2m for that building. Then we came down to this, and even before we rented the building for N10m, we wrote the ZUREPB notifying them that we were hiring the edifice for office accommodation but they did not reply us for up to a month,” he explained.
“When we painted the building, the ZUREPB officials came and marked it for demolition and we had already drawn the attention of our lawyers to the matter. ZUREPB is saying that the building is for commercial purpose; whereas it is not.
“They didn’t reply us and their officials came marking the building. We have the constitutional right to open party offices right from the ward level to the national level. Therefore, ZUREPB has no moral justification to stop us,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zamfara PDP Caretaker Chairman, Col Bala Mande (Rtd) has said the party had instituted a suit before the State High Court to challenge the decision by the state government to demolish their headquarters in Gusau.
Col Mande, who was Governor Bello Matawalle’s Chief of Staff but remained in the PDP when his boss decided to defect to the APC, said marking their office accommodation for demolition was mischievous and an attempt to harass and intimidate their party members.
In the same vein, Alhaji Farouk Ahmad Shattima said they could not be cowed into submission because they had done nothing wrong, only that Governor Matawalle decided to betray the party that brought him to power.
“We are meeting at the court on December 9. Part of our prayer is that the sum of N60m should be paid to us as compensation for damages done to our office,” Shattima said.
A similar scenario of party office demolition played out in January, 2020, when Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle was in the PDP and APC was in opposition.
The then APC headquarters in Maradun Local Government Area was demolished, allegedly by the officials of ZUREPB who were believed to have acted on the order of the state government.
ZUREPB at that time said they did not demolish a party office but an individual residence that was erected despite several warnings issued to the owner of the building. However, the then APC dismissed the allegation and threatened to take court action against the state government.
It’s height of political intolerance – Ex-NBA chair
The immediate past chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in the state, Barrister Bello Galadi, said the action amounted to political intolerance.
He said every party, ruling or opposition, or any individual should be allowed to test their popularity in an electoral process.
“This is what democracy means. In politics, there is no permanent enemy or friend. Politicians have failed to learn lessons from that and they should learn to respect one another’s views.
“Politicians tend to forget where they come from and where they are heading to. Those in power are doing everything humanly possible to repress opposition or dissenting voices, and this would not augur well for a good democracy in the state and the country in general. This view is from the political angle of the crisis.
“If we look at it from the legal perspective, whoever said you have done something illegal that person or government should explain to you in clear or unambiguous terms where you have erred.
“I read the document written by ZUREPB and sent to PDP. The board is dilly dallying as they failed to clearly explain where the party committed any offence regarding the acquisition of their office accommodation,” Barrister Galadi said.
Some residents in the state have expressed their views over the demolition saga. Some of them said politicians were birds of a feather and that no one should shed any crocodile tear over the party office destruction.
“Those in PDP now were in government when the APC office in Maradun was destroyed. Did they come out and condemn that particular action in strong terms? In fact, some of them were hailing the action.
“Every one of them wants use advantage of being in power to suppress opposition. The politics of party office destruction has not started today and it would not end today. We have seen so many clear examples of all these issues,” a resident said.
However, one of the big names in politics in the state who does not want be named said at times those in power were the ones arm-twisting agencies to carry out the unwholesome acts and that those ignorant of it would be solely fingering the agency; not knowing those behind it.
A resident identified as Aminu Muhammad said politicians, especially those in power, should tolerate opposition, noting that those in the same camp today would find themselves in different tents tomorrow.
“In 2019 who thought former Governor Abdulaziz Yari and Senator Kabiru Marafa would find themselves in the same camp. Look at how hard they fought themselves politically, but today the rest is history. Politics is about interest,” he said.
Matawalle not aware of matter – Spokesperson
However, Governor Matawalle’s Special Adviser on Communication, Media and Public Enlightenment, Zailani Bappa, dismissed the allegations, adding that the governor had nothing to do with the PDP office saga.
He described the allegations as ill-motivated, vicious and totally baseless, saying the PDP should go and settle their scores elsewhere and not with state government that knew nothing about their being in the state.
“The government is having issues with the owner of the building or the landlord, and I can tell you that Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle is not even aware of the matter.
“Governor Matawalle was the soul of PDP in the state, and after he exited the party it died. So for someone to come and say that he is being rattled by PDP’s popularity is baseless; and he (Matawalle) will never do anything to intimidate or harass opposition,” Bappa added.
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