Bello Muhammad, also known as Bello Matawalle, is a Nigerian politician and educator who was chosen by President Bola Tinubu to be the state’s designate minister of defense and From 2019 to 2023, he was the governor of Zamfara State.
His first elected position was as a member of the House of Representatives for Bakura/Maradun in 2003. He held that position until 2015, first as a member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party before switching to the People’s Democratic Party in 2011.
He had previously served briefly in the state house of assembly during the Abacha era and as a state commissioner during the Ahmad Sani Yerima administration in the Fourth Republic from 1999 to 2003.
Matawalle became the PDP’s gubernatorial nominee for 2019, four years after losing his Bakura/Maradun Constituency seat in 2015. He ultimately won the position after a Supreme Court decision disqualified the previous victor. He joined the majority of the elected officials from Zamfara State in a defection rally in Gusau in 2021, following which he left the PDP for the All Progressives Congress.
Bello Early age and education
Bello Muhammad was born in Maradun, which was then in the North-Western State, on February 12, 1962, or 1969, whichever came first. In 1979, he graduated from Maradun Township Primary School with a First School Leaving Certificate. 1984 saw his VTC Bunza graduation. After attending Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, he continued his education at Thames Valley University in London.
Bello’s Political life
Before joining the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, he worked as an instructor at the Government Girls Colleges in Moriki and Kwatarkoshi. After leaving the Federal Ministry of Water Resources in Abuja and joining the defunct United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), which included politicians like Ambassador Isa Aliyu Mohammed Argungu (Sarkin Yakin Kabbi), a former Minister of Water Resources and National Chairman of the party, Matawalle’s first attempt at politics came in 1998 when he ran for a house of assembly seat and won.
He was the Zamfara State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the Commissioner for Environment and Rural Development, and finally the Commissioner for Youth and Sports between 1999 and 2003.
In May 2003, Matawalle’s Bakura/Maradun constituents, who supported the now-defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), elected him to the House of Representatives.
Matawalle was re-elected in 2007 while still running on the ANPP platform, but he later switched to the PDP, and in 2011 he was elected to a third term on that platform.
Muktar Idris, the APC candidate, received 534,541 votes in the March election as opposed to Matawalle’s 189,452 votes.
The INEC initially issued the certificate of return to Muktar Idris, but the court of appeal in Sokoto ordered that it be withdrawn.
Later, the Supreme Court declared that the votes cast for the APC in the election were useless and ordered that the second-place candidate be sworn in on Wednesday. This is because all of the candidates in Zamfara State’s primary elections were not conducted by the APC.
Personal life
Matawalle has four wives and many children.
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