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Secret Reporters
With Zamfara State boasting of 70.8% poverty rate according to the National Bureau of Statistics, experts have continued to advocate that the government should reduce the cost of governance in all possible sectors.
However, data have shown that barely two years after assuming office as the Governor of Zamfara State, Dr. Bello Matawalle spent a whooping N1, 173,337,500 to change his vehicles.
According to data on the State Open Procurement Portal, the Governor purchased the vehicles in three different contracts awarded to Musaco Investment & Properties Ltd within one month.
In the first contract, N484, 512,500.00 was used for the ‘Purchase of official vehicles to His Excellency the Executive Governor”. The contract was awarded in June 2021 and was executed by Musaco Investment & Properties Ltd.
However, the contract details did not specify the type and number of vehicles that were purchased.
In the second contract, N459, 995,000.00 was used for the ‘Purchase of additional official vehicles to His Excellency the Executive Governor,” but did not also specify the type and number of vehicles. The contract was also awarded in June 2021 to the same company.
In the same vein, the governor awarded another contract to the same company for “Purchase of official vehicles to His Excellency the Executive Governor”. While the sum of #228,830,000.00 was allegedly used to purchase the vehicles, the contract did not specify the type or number of vehicles.
It was not stated why the Governor decided to change his cars barely two years into office. There was also no public report on the status of his previous vehicles.
Further findings show that Musaco Investment And Properties Company Ltd was incorporated in Kaduna, Nigeria with Registration Number 834592. It was registered on 28 Jul 2009 and its current status is unknown. The company’s office address is NO16A, Aliakilu road, Kaduna, Kaduna.
A search on the Corporate Affairs Commission shows that the company is not active. According to CAC, “A company that has not been filing its financial returns within a specified time is classified as inactive.”
Matawalle was sworn-in as the Governor of Zamfara on May 29, 2019 under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party after the original winner of the election, Muktar Idris of the All Progressives Congress was sacked by the court. The Supreme Court pronounced the votes cast for the APC in the election as wasted and ordered that the candidate with the second highest votes be sworn in. This is because the APC failed to conduct primary elections for all the candidates in Zamfara State.
On June 29, 2021, Matawalle formerly defected to the APC. It was on this same month that the Governor changed his vehicles.
