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Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, on Saturday, said he will not tolerate a disrespectful attitude from his deputy, Mahdi Aliyu Gusau.
Matawalle was reacting to a recent political rally organised by the deputy governor to reaffirm his loyalty to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The governor and his deputy came to power on PDP platform, but Matawalle and all the other elected officials in the state have since defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The state House of Assembly had recently initiated plans to sanction Aliyu for holding the rally while killings by bandits are still ongoing in the state.
This has led to speculations that the lawmakers want to use the rally to impeach Aliyu, who refused to follow them to the APC.
The Assembly has summoned the deputy governor to appear before it to explain why he held the rally without considering the security situation and “in disrespect of advice by the security authorities in the state.”
Matawalle also reprimanded his deputy while commenting on the Assembly’s summon in an interview with DW Hausa Service on Saturday.
“I just read about the impeachment plan and called someone for clarification who told me that they would not accept it from the deputy governor to be organising rallies when people are being killed.
“As governor of the state, I promised to work together with the deputy governor irrespective of our political affiliations. But I won’t tolerate a disrespectful attitude from him.
“I won’t join issues with him but if he dares me, I will give him the treatment he deserves.
“We all agreed to halt any political rally welcoming politicians into the state since we lost some of our supporters while welcoming us.
“The deputy governor should have notified me of whatever he planned to do. Being of different political parties does not mean I am no longer his boss. Since the defection, he has stopped associating with me.
“I am the chief security officer of the state. I won’t tolerate any person trying to breach the security of the state,” the governor said.