Zamfara: Swear By Quran, Suspended Lawmaker Dares Colleague Who Accused Him Of Sponsoring Bandits

Yusuf Muhammad, one of the two lawmakers suspended by the Zamfara House of Assembly for allegedly sponsoring bandits, has told his side of the story.

Muhammad was suspended alongside Ibrahim Tukur for allegedly orchestrating and celebrating bandits’ abduction of the father of the assembly’s speaker.

But speaking to newsmen in Gusau on Wednesday, Muhammadu said his suspension may be an attempt to frustrate a planned impeachment of Nasiru Magarya as the speaker of the assembly.

According to him, Magarya had failed to offer good leadership to the state assembly and that all efforts to get Governor Bello Matawalle to see the speaker’s failures had proven abortive.

The lawmaker said rather, the governor asked former finance minister, Bashir Yuguda, to broker peace and halt the speaker’s planned impeachment.

“The entire members only urged the Governor to get things corrected in terms of how he runs his government in the overall interest of moving the State forward.

“Surprisingly, while in Kano attending UNICEF workshop, I started receiving calls from different quarters informing me of my suspension over alleged connection with armed bandits,” he said.

Muhammad also challenged the lawmaker who moved the motion for his suspension, Yusuf Kanoma, to appear at a public forum where he would swear with the Holy Quran that he and Tukur orchestrated the abduction of the speaker’s father.

Meanwhile, the state assembly has referred the lawmakers’ suspension to its ethics and privileges committee for investigation.

Muhammad hopes that the committee would do justice to him and his colleague.

He further vowed to sue the state assembly for “damaging” his name and reputation.

President Muhammadu Buhari had in his 2021 Independence Day speech alleged that some lawmakers were sponsoring terrorism across the country.