Politics
Dr. Bashir Maru And The Betrayal Of Benefactor
By Abdul Sulaiman Gusau
I read with great astonishment a lengthy write-up by the former Deputy Chief of Staff to His Excellency, Dr Bello Mohammed, the Executive Governor of Zamfara State, where he emotionally poured scathy and unholy accusations against his person and the very administration he served.
All the issues raised by Dr Bashir in that piece were glaringly vituperations of a wounded person. For those who understand how a wounded person reacts, they will not take his myriad of accusations seriously, except for those things he has admitted of committing by himself. He said he was not safe and I believe him. He obviously need to save himself from himself.
I am not the mouth-piece of Governor Matawalle, but I know that Dr Bashir Maru came into political and administrative limelight in Zamfara State by singular grace of the Governor. Relatively unknown Dr Bashir was made the Deputy Chief of Staff at the Government House, with literally all the work of substantive Chief of staff domiciled in his office.
Dr Bashir Maru was emboldened to develop his political ambition by the same privileges of his new found patronage where he made his contacts and money to pursue same. Going by what is practically available to us, His Excellency was not against this new phase of steps taken by Dr Bashir Maru to test his clout among his people and also his popularity.
As the saying goes, however, one cannot run faster than one’s shadow. Dr Bashir Maru tested his popularity at home and found out his real worth. Naturally, only those who are patient enough to be groomed in all the nitty-gritty of politics brace themselves to failure as the possibility and an opposite of success. A green horn will naturally behave wildly to a political knock-down, and we have all seen that in Dr Bashir Maru.
When he lost, he squarely blamed his failure to his only political and administrative benefactor, the benevolent god-father who moulded him into what he thinks he is today politically in Zamfara State. He also threatend court case against his loss and continued to say so many things badly aimed at damaging the reputation of His Excellency.
The latest is his recent write-up where, in his bid to further damage his former boss, he opened his own can of worms and desperately tried to win public sympathy in a case which the public cannot be his judge. Only the court can. He voluntarily made it public his clandestine action of manipulating a Government vehicle which he secretly dispatched to a nearby state capital with an intent of selling it for his personal benefit.
Reports I received indicated that the car’s colour was repainted from white to black colour, delivered to a buyer who gave advanced payment on the vehicle before it was discovered. Dr Bashir in his write-up revealed that he was the distributor of all the Security vehicles purchased by the administration of his Excellency. He unofficially allocated to himself one of the vehicles and hid it somewhere all this while, until he thought it was ripe for him to dispose of it.
The worst part of it all was the discovery of a forged allocation letter he sneaked into the distributed vehicles documents where the name of a deceased public figure was used to cover for the vehicle he hid and later attempted to sell. Well, only Police investigation and subsequent court prosecution can exonerate him or otherwise.
It is laughable that Dr Bashir, who served the administration of Dr Bello Mohammed for about two years, defended it vehemently in all his social media write-up, will suddenly realise it’s dishonesty after he has lost an election, a failure he chose to blame the Governor for. It is funny that he tried in his latest write-up to portray himself as the Saint and everyone else as the villain.
However, those who know him much more earlier than now can testify to the crooked life of Dr Bashir as I later came to know. Some day, someone will ask about his University days, why he was expelled in a certain Federal University before he chose to go to an obscure private University to return to us with a medical certificate. Someone will also ask one day, yes, of the issues surrounding his medical practice registration as well.
It is not right to bring someone down for his past mistakes, but it is equally not right for someone to bite the fingers that fed him. Those who love him should advise him that he has allowed over ambition and penchant for betrayal combined to derail him and might lead him to his own political crash-landing.
The majority leader of the Lagos House of Assembly, Noheem Adams, on Friday raised alarm over alleged plans by some people to manipulate the result of the primary election that produced him as a candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Adams reportedly won the primary election of the party to produce a candidate for the House of Assembly in Eti-Osa Constituency 1 on Wednesday after polling 7,638 against his opponent’s 1225 votes.
Speaking to thousands of APC supporters during a Victory March, Adams said accused a top monarch (name withheld) in Eti-Osa of being behind the plan to doctor the result in favour of Saheed Adesegun Bankole, who was defeated in the election.
“I want you all very much for the love and passion you have for me and APC. Today is what we call victory walk. We started from VGC with over 4000 APC members. Even inside the rain you stood your ground and you are here to protect your mandate.
“Thank you very much for voting for me. I won the election throughout our wards and the INEC officials, DSS and police personnel were there and even the agents of our opponent were there as well.
“Let me put it on record that his agents and the police signed that the election was free and fair and they took all the results to the local government collation centre.
“When they got there, they presented all the results to the DSS, INEC officials and also to the returning officer and he collected everything and announced that Adams was the winner of the election.
“We believe in this party. The only crime I have committed was during the impeachment of the Speaker; that I did not follow them and did not stand against the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly,” he alleged.
He said being a politician, he understood “loyalty and how to always be loyal. That is the only crime I committed and today, I’m calling on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to caution the Oba.
“The Oba is the reason why we lost the presidential election in 2023 in the constituency and he is the reason why we lost the House of Representatives seat. He lost in his own kingdom and the results are there at the INEC for all to see.
“I’m calling on the Inspector General of Police that if anything happens to me, he should hold the Oba responsible. And in 2027, if we lose the presidential election in the local government, the President should hold him responsible. We have assured the President that we are going to vote for him and he will win.”
He urged his loyalists and supporters to remain calm as he trusts the party enough to resolve the issue.
President of the Lekki Residents and Stakeholders Association, Sulyman Bello, also thanked the supporters for having faith in Adams.
“On behalf of all of all the estates from 1004 and across the entire Lekki peninsula, we thank all the APC members for standing by our friend, brother, father Hon. Noheem Adams.
“If all the estates in Eti -Osa Osa, call on him at the same time, he will respond. We also thank God that he got over 7,000 votes and his opponent a little above 1,000 votes. The winning margin is above 90%.
“We thank all those of you that voted and also thank President Ahmed Tinubu for his leadership. We extend our gratitude to the APC leaders in Lagos state. If it is not Noheem, it is not Noheem,” he said.
Politics
Governor Dauda Lawal Emerges APC Consensus Governorship Candidate for Zamfara 2027 Election
Governor Dauda Lawal Ph.d has officially emerged as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2027 election in Zamfara State, following a consensus arrangement adopted by the party for its primaries.The governor secured the ticket after party members and supporters gathered across various wards to endorse him as the APC’s flagbearer for the forthcoming election. The consensus model, which allowed party stakeholders to unite behind a single candidate, was embraced as a strategy to avoid a contentious primary and strengthen internal cohesion ahead of the 2027 polls.Speaking with journalists shortly after the exercise, Governor Lawal expressed profound gratitude to party members for the confidence reposed in him. He reaffirmed his commitment to the people of Zamfara, pledging to consolidate ongoing developmental projects aimed at improving the lives of residents across the state.“I am deeply honored by the trust and support of our party faithful,” Lawal said. “We will not relent in our efforts to deliver meaningful development, enhance security, and create opportunities for all citizens of Zamfara State.”His emergence underscores the party’s push to build continuity and strong leadership in the northwest region.Political analysts note that the adoption of consensus candidate signals the APC’s preference for unity and reduced internal friction as the party prepares for the next electoral cycle.
Lagos lawmaker, Adewale Temitope Adedeji, has won the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election for the party’s candidacy in Ifako-Ijaiye Constituency 1 ahead of the 2027 general election.Adewale, a current member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, scored 19,111 to defeat his closest rival, Obawole Quadri lawal, who polled 295 votes.Three other aspirants in the election that was monitored by the state electoral officers, the Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies, Afolabi Ajiboye, Akinyemi Temitope, and Adewale Lateef, scored 165, 73 and 33 votes respectively.The primary election was conducted peacefully on Wednesday across seven political wards in the constituency.A youth leader and participant in the exercise, Demola Olajide, said the peaceful exercise was the result of the maturity of the aspirants and the members’ respect for party supremacy.In a ‘thank you’ message to his constituents on Thursday, Adewale described his victory at the primary election as democracy in action.He noted that the beauty of the exercise was that he had despite having other aspirants, the election was peaceful.”What makes this moment special wasn’t just the win. It was the voices that were heard, the choices people made freely, and the peaceful process that let a community decide its own path forward.”That’s the heart of democracy: every vote counts, every opinion matters, and power flows from the people up.”May this new chapter bring the progress and unity we have promised to fight for. The real work starts now and our leaders are watching with hope.”Let’s be further determined to increase our support for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat and other candidates of the party in the 2027 election,” he urged.
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