Governor Matawalle has joined APC, says Buhari’s aide

Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, Personal Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, has hinted.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Ahmad wrote: “So Zamfara is back home, Welcome Matawalle.”

Matawalle has been silent on his defection moves despite speculations from different quarters.

Matawalle became governor after the Supreme Court ruled on the internal crisis that rocked the APC in 2019.

The court had annulled the votes of the APC in the 2019 elections on the grounds that the party was not eligible to field candidates over its inability to conduct primaries.

The visit of some APC governors to Matawalle in Zamfara in April to commiserate with him over the activities of bandits in the state was seen as a strategic move to woo him.

The visit of the APC governors was followed by their PDP counterparts, apparently to persuade Matawalle from not joining the APC.

So far, two PDP governors, David Umahi of Ebonyi State and Ben Ayade of Cross River State, have joined the APC.

The Zamfara governor has not been attended recent meetings of the PDP governors and leaders.

For instance, when PDP governors welcomed former Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State to the party from the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Matawalle sent his deputy to represent him.