(ANALYSIS)
By
Anas Sani Anka
___________________________________
I am constraint to write about the conflict between the former Governor of Zamfara state Bello Muhammad Matawalle and Governor Dauda Lawal over the recovery of state government vehicles.
The drama has no doubt caused Zamfara state and it’s people a monumental embarrassment, hence Nigerians continue to see Zamfara as a controversial political entity which continues to develop new “political hypothesis” for the students of power and politics in Nigeria.
My concern in this piece is not whether it is right for Bello Matawalle the former Governor to refuse to hand over state government vehicles in his custody to his predecessor as “alleged” or for Governor Dauda Lawal to insist on recovering the vehicles as “claimed” by peace or by force.
I will rather discuss the “legality” of what transpired in the process of recovering the vehicles on Friday and Saturday because that is the point of concern to every right-thinking person.
As at now people are left in a confusing situation because in the press statement released by Mr. Sulaiman one of the media aides of Governor Dauda Lawal, he said police acted based on a complaint raised by the state government and their action was fully backed by a valid court order.
I think if this is what happened that is right because, one may only need to ask about the real interpretation of the term “validity” and also understand which types of order can justify what transpired on Friday and eventually on Saturday.
I watched another spokesperson of Dauda Mustapha Jafar Kaura in an interview he granted with Mai Biredi Tv one of the online TV channels we have here in Zamfara where he re-affirmed the statement by Sulaiman that police secured a valid court order to break into the private residence of Matawalle in Maradun and Gusau.
But another confusing thing about the debacle is the sample of “search warrant” made public by one Naziru Ibrahim a political associate to Hon. Kabir Amadu Mai Palace via his verified Facebook page.
While the media aides of Dauda were talking about valid court order, Naziru released a sample copy of a search warrant and the whole scenario became confusing.
Are security agencies acting based on search warrant as demonstrated by Naziru Ibrahim who is also a strong supporter of Dauda Lawal or a court order as stated by the Governor’s media aides? because to my understanding search warrant is different from a court order, I may be very wrong!!.
But let’s assume the media aides of Dauda misperceived warrant for court order, the next question is how valid is the warrant in lieu of what transpired in Maradun and Gusau?.
The warrant pasted by Naziru Ibrahim which I read time and time again is instructing the security agencies to conduct a search of the private residence of former Governor Bello Matawalle in Maradun and surprisingly, it was issued by a magistrate court in Talatar Mafara.
The question is: Can a warrant issued to search a house in Maradun be valid for another search in Gusau?
To the best of my knowledge, jurisdictional issues are keen when it comes to matters related to court and more or less I was reliably informed that even the warrant issued regarding the Maradun operation may be invalid in lieu of the fact that there may be a magistrate court in Maradun and Maradun CMC should have a judicial jurisdiction to issue that search warrant not Talatar Mafara CMC.
But more worrisome is the question of whether or not a search warrant issued against Maradun can be valid for Gusau? And again whether or not a warrant issued against Bello Matawalle can be valid for an aide to Bello Matawalle? .
The content of a warrant is supposed to be clearly explicit, directional and specific about what should be searched for and who shall do it.
Now, if the content of that warrant pasted cannot be valid for Gusau, what then will be the legal implications of what happened at the private residence of former Governor Bello Matawalle in Gusau?
Again if the content of the warrant issued by the CMC Mafara against Bello Matawalle could not be valid for another person what is the legal implications of what happened to Ahmad S. Yamma Director of Finance Government House and Abubakar Jafar Maradun Permanent Secretary Government House?
I think experts in legal jurisprudence should help us with a definite answers to these questions because the court cannot mislead instead it provides a sense of direction for the people and where the court is misled by a complainant or where a complainant breaches the content of a court instructions issue of “contempt” has now arises.
So, it is important for the Governor’s media aides to provide us with a definite answers to these salient issues raised concerning the purported sample of the search warrant circulating on the social media, and it’s legal validity.
Now coming back to the other argument, of the court order assuming the sample of the search warrant pasted by Naziru Ibrahim and others is fake, the next question one should ask is what types of order was secured against the Friday and Saturday operations?
I know that there are two types of court orders that can be valid for these types of operations, one is “Order Experte” and the other one is “Order on Notice”.
Order experte is such an order that can be issued to a complainant, Zamfara State government in this case, for it to be able to carry out a search of the house of the former Governor Bello Matawalle without necessarily placing him on notice of the existence of that order.
Then as for “Order on notice” it is an order that can be issued to a complainant Zamfara state government in this regard with a clear instruction that the victim be placed on notice, and he should be carried along during the investigation.
Now, assuming the order given is an order experte its implications is that whatever the Governor claimed that is missing, the state government and indeed the security agencies must be able to take responsibility hence the popular Hausa adage states that “Nashiga ban dauka ba bata hidda barawo”.
If Governor Bello Matawalle can probe beyond reasonable doubt that certain items had been carted away against the content of the court order issued, he will definitely be compensated.
So, it is equally important for the media aides of the Governor to tell us which among the orders stated above the state government or the police had secured.
Is this order experte as highlighted above, or an order on notice so that it guides our sense of judgement as citizens of Zamfara.
I think searching for these state government vehicles was also extended to the private residences of Governor Bello Matawalle’s aides and political associates as captured above. The next question is: Can the validity of the search warrant on Bello Matawalle be extended to his aides and associates? .
This question is important because what allegedly happened to Ahmad Sarkin Yamma the Director of Finance Government House, the former Commissioner for Local government, Permanent Secretary Government House Abubakar Jafar Maradun as well as the attempt made to invade the house of Abu Dangaladima Mafara in the name of vehicle recovery is an “animalistic act” in my opinion.
Unless if the security agencies had secured separate orders or warrants on these personalities, it will be very unfair to have their residences invaded, and their family members humiliated.
By law warrant on Bello Matawalle the former Governor should not have effect on another person unless if it was jointly instructed by the court.
On the more serious note, I will advise the Governor to try to save the imagery of the government by avoiding steps that would allow for the people to downgrade the status of the government, which is a corporate political entity.
Like Prof. Kabiru Sulaiman Tsafe used to say, “governance is a corporate scientific business”. Everything is designed inline with the laid down rules and guidelines.
What people like us expected the Governor to do is to set up what we called “asset recovery committee” or “Judicial Commission of Inquiry” and empower them the power to recover the vehicles allegedly under the custody of the former Governor.
This would have been more decent and corporate, hence the former Governor or any of his aides cannot shun this sensitive committee or the commission of inquiry.
Now, whether one like it or not, the scenario has been dramatized and Nigerians are exposed to another political hypothesis that is becoming interestingly glaring about the future of Zamfara as a state.
