Bello Muhammad (born 12 February 1962), known as Bello Matawalle, is a Nigerian politician and teacher who has served as the Governor of Zamfara State since 2019. After briefly serving in the

Abacha Abacha is a town in Anambra State in the southeastern part of Nigeria. It is bordered by Abatete, Nimo, Oraukwu and Eziowelle Eziowelle is a town in Idemili North local government area of Anambra State, Nigeria. Eziowelle translates into En ...

-era state house of assembly and serving as a state commissioner from 1999 to 2003 in the Ahmad Sani Yerima administration in the Fourth Republic, he first won an elected office in 2003 as a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

for Bakura/Maradun and retained the office until 2015 first as a member of the

All Nigeria Peoples Party The All Nigeria Peoples Party ( abbr. ANPP) was a political party in Nigeria. Under the leadership of Late Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke who was its vice presidential candidate to General Muhammadu Buhari in the 2007 presidential elections. The party ...

before switching to the People's Democratic Party in 2011. Four years after losing his Bakura/Maradun Constituency seat in 2015, Matawalle became the 2019 PDP gubernatorial nominee and won the office after a Supreme Court ruling disqualified the original winner. In 2021, he defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress after a defection rally in

Gusau The city of Gusau, located in northwestern Nigeria, is the capital of Zamfara State. It is also the name of the state's Local Government Area (LGA), which has an area of ² and a population of 383,162 as of the 2006 census. The area's postal ...

alongside most Zamfara State elected officials.

Early life and education

Bello Matawalle was born February 12, 1969, in Maradun, which at the time was a part of the Northern Region. He obtained First School Leaving Certificate from Maradun Township Primary School in 1979. He graduated from VTC Bunza in 1984. He attended

Yaba College of Technology Yaba College of Technology, popularly known as YABATECH, was founded in 1947, and is Nigeria's first higher educational institution. It is located in Yaba, Lagos. It has a student enrollment of over 16,000. Overview Yaba College of Technology ...

, Lagos and later went to

Thames Valley University The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing C ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Political career

He worked as a teacher at Government Girls College Moriki and Kwatarkoshi before joining the Federal Ministry of Water Resources. Matawalle's first shot in politics was in 1998 when he ran for a house of assembly seat and won after he left the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Abuja, joining the defunct

United Nigeria Congress Party The United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) was a Nigerian political party. It was one of the five state-sanctioned political parties allowed by the government of General Sani Abacha to participate in state assembly elections held in December 1997, in ...

(UNCP) which consisted of politicians such as Ambassador Isa Aliyu Mohammed Argungu (Sarkin Yakin Kabbi) former Minister of Water Resources and National Chairman of the party, Ibrahim Gusau former pro tem National Chairman of the party,

Atiku Abubakar Atiku is a given name and surname. It may refer to: Given name * Atiku Abubakar (born 1946), Nigerian politician and businessman, Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 *Atikur Rahman Mallik, Bangladeshi film editor Middle name * Abubakar Ati ...

, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila, Attahiru Bafarawa, Adamu Aliero, Suleiman Takuma,

Ibrahim Kura Mohammed Ibrahim Kura Mohammed was elected Senator for the Kano Central constituency of Kano State, Nigeria at the start of the Nigerian Fourth Republic, running on the People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform. He took office on 29 May 1999. Kura Mohamm ...

Ibrahim Saminu Turaki Alhaji Ibrahim Saminu Turaki (born 14 July 1963) is a Nigerian actuary and politician. He served as the executive governor of Jigawa State from 1999 to 2007. Prior to that, he was the Jigawa state chairman of the defunct Social Democratic P ...

and

Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya (born 16 June 1952) is a Nigerian politician who has served in the Senate of Nigeria since 2007 representing the Kano South constituency of Kano State. He is a member of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). Background ...

but after the death of

Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...

, Nigerian Military Head of State on June 8, 1998,

Abdulsalami Abubakar Abdulsalami Abubakar (; born 13 June 1942) is a Nigerian statesman and retired Nigerian Army general who served as the ''de facto'' President of Nigeria from 1998 to 1999. He was also Chief of Defence Staff between 1997 and 1998. He succeede ...

, his successor, dissolved the political parties and announced that elections would hold in 1999. Between 1999 and 2003 he served as Zamfara State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Commissioner for Environment, Rural Development and then Commissioner for Youth and Sports. Matawalle was elected into the

by his constituents Bakura/Maradun in May 2003 on the platform of the defunct

(ANPP). Matawalle was re-elected in 2007 still on the platform of the ANPP only to defect to PDP on which platform he was re-elected for a third term in 2011. Matawalle polled 189,452 in the March polls as against the 534,541 votes for Muktar Idris, the APC candidate. Muktar Idris was at first, issued the certificate of return, however, the court of appeal in Sokoto ordered that the INEC should withdraw the certificate. The Supreme Court later pronounced that the votes cast for the APC in the election as wasted and ordered that the candidate with the second highest votes be sworn in on Wednesday. This is because the APC failed to conduct primary election for all the candidates in Zamfara State.

Defection to APC

On 1 June 2021, Matawalle dissolved his Executive Council, reportedly in preparation for a party switch to the APC set to happen around June 12. Matawalle however, denied that the cabinet dissolution was connected to a party switch and claimed to have not made a decision on changing parties nor set a date. On June 27, President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 A ...

's Personal Media aide Bashir Ahmad said Matawalle had joined the APC. The party switch was later confirmed by Matawalle's spokesperson Ibrahim Dosara, who said Matawalle would formally announce the defection on June 29. On June 29, Matawalle, along with all 3 Zamfara Senators, 6 of 7 Representatives, and all 24 House of Assembly members, officially switched to the APC at a rally in Gusau attended by other APC Governors; notably Deputy Governor Mahdi Aliyu Gusau and Anka/Mafara

Representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

Kabiru Yahaya remained in the PDP. Mai Mala Buni, Yobe State Governor and APC Caretaker Chairman, immediately dissolved all party caretaker committees in Zamfara State and appointed Matawalle as Zamfara APC Leader.

Personal life

Matawalle is married to four wives and has children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matawalle, Bello Living people Governors of Zamfara State All Nigeria Peoples Party politicians Nigerian Muslims 1969 births People from Zamfara State