HURIWA urges Matawalle to clear self of alleged corruption before investigating Nigerian Naval Chief 

Oru Leonard 

Prominent civil rights advocacy group: Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has said it is a case of a kettle calling a pot black for the minister of state for defence Bello Matawalle to be at the forefront of the so-called investigation of the Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogala over some yet to be substantiated allegations of wrong doing in the line of duty as Navy’s top most General in Nigeria.

HURIWA believes that the petition against the Naval Chief is a calculated and orchestrated attempt to deny the Igbo states of any sort of Representation in the national defence Council in which South West and North West are dominant members. Also, the Rights group said there’s more to that petition than the eyes have seen and that it bears clear semblance of a battle being instigated by those not in support of the job that the Nigerian Navy claimed to be doing in the area of stopping massive thefts of crude oil resources. “It may be a fight between forces of good and evil which is why that petition must be treated not by someone with questions of ethical challenges hanging on his neck like a sword of damocles.

“It is only in a Banana Republic will a Bello Matawalle, accused of theft of some 50 cars from Zamfara State on leaving office after an unsuccessful attempt to gain second term as governor of that state, and also have sundry allegations of heist of billions of Naira of his state’s funds by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to be the one championing an investigation of any sort of allegations against any public office holder in the Country. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must stop disgracing us by retaining such a man with heavy ethical issues as a minister in a very sensitive portfolio and here us he trying to insult our sensibility by posing as an anti-graft campaigner”, HURIWA stated.

Besides, HURIWA Condemns President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for appointing the erstwhile Zamfara State governor who openly negotiated with terrorists and at a time actively canvassed for Amnesty programmes for armed Fulani terrorists and he is the same character heading such a very sensitive national security position as a minister in the Federal ministry of defence.

HURIWA recalled that a coalition of concerned Nigerians has sent a petition to President Bola Tinubu, raising serious allegations of crude oil theft, contract splitting, procurement fraud and corrupt practices against Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla.

In a petition signed by prominent human rights activists and lawyers, Barrister Pelumi Olajengbesi, Comrade Deji Adeyanju, Comrade Mohammed Suleiman SK, Barrister Aisha Waliki, and Comrade Ogunwoye Samson, the coalition called for an immediate investigation into the conduct of Vice Admiral Ogalla, who it accused of engaging in large-scale corrupt practices.

The coalition, which submitted the petition to President Tinubu through the Office of the Minister of State for Defence, Hon. Bello Matawalle, expressed deep concern over the alarming allegations.

However, HURIWA carpeted the petitioners for directing their petition to Matawalle rather than the senior defence minister or straight to the President but comically decided to send it to a man who has perceived institutional moral burdens of his own. Does it mean that these campaigners in the civil society community do not read newspapers or they just dropped from the outer planet not to know or perceive the heavy and toxic stench of alleged corruption trailing the minister of State for Defence who has comically however assured that the allegations would be thouroghly investigated to ascertain the truth as it concerned the only Igbo military officer holding top commanding position under the Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government?”

In the petition which was submitted in a highly suspicious manner demonstrating the involvement of some fifth columnists aiming at uprooting the only significant Igbo officer in the current government, the writers stated without any shreds of provable evidence as follows: “At a time when the country is grappling with significant revenue losses due to crude oil theft, it is distressing to discover that the Chief of Naval Staff, whose primary responsibility is to safeguard Nigeria’s waterways against oil theft and other forms of criminality, is allegedly involved in collusion with the perpetrators of these heinous crimes against the Nigerian state”, the coalition stated.

HURIWA stated that it is significant to note that the Navy as an institution has defended the Naval Chief and dismiss the allegations but HURIWA said if the petitioners have credible evidence against the Naval Chief, they need to approach the credible authority and not to route their petition through Matawalle who has a lot of issues around public sector corruption and the misgovernance of Zamfara State in a way that shows that the petitioners are doing a yeoman job for some forces in the private security sector in the crude oil subsection of the economy.

On 7th December 2023, the Zamfara State Government said it had recovered about 50 operational vehicles allegedly taken away by the immediate past governor of the state, Bello Matawalle.

Briefing journalists in Gusau, Sani Sambo, a spokesperson for Governor Dauda Lawal said the action followed the judgement by a Federal High Court in Sokoto last Friday.
He said due process was carefully followed to recover the vehicles from the Gusau and Maradun residences of the former governor who earlier denied having possession of any government property when he was leaving office as governor.

Sambo stated that the Governor Dauda Lawal-led administration is doing everything possible to bring about the desired development in the state but not to witch hunt or project anyone in a bad light.

When Lawal took over power as governor of Zamfara on May 29, 2023, the controversy about stolen operational vehicles at the Government House Gusau and siphoning of public funds set in, and security agencies raided the two residences of Matawalle in Gusau and Maradun local governments where some vehicles were recovered.

Similarly, the case proceeded to the Federal High Court and Zamfara State Government announced that it won the bid to retrieve the allegedly stolen 50 cars belonging to Zamfara State.