End banditry through dialogue and amnesty — Bello Matawalle

Total tracked

Kept

Partial / mixed

Broken

Kept

Partial / mixed

Broken

In progress

Security

End banditry through dialogue and amnesty

Broken

The promise

Promised to tackle Zamfara's banditry crisis through a 'cows-for-guns' amnesty and dialogue programme rather than purely military means.

Assessment

The amnesty freed hundreds of hostages and saw repentant fighters publicly surrender arms, with the administration claiming 90% of bandits were ready to disarm in 2019; the programme ultimately collapsed as many participants returned to banditry, and Matawalle later withdrew the amnesty, blaming political sabotage.

Security

Cut off bandit financing through mining and vigilante controls

Partial

The promise

Promised to disrupt the illegal mining revenue that helped fund banditry, alongside community-level security.

Assessment

The administration banned illegal mining as a bandit revenue source and paid stipends to vigilante groups, but banditry and kidnapping remained a severe, ongoing crisis in the state through the end of the tenure.

Governance

Fiscal transparency in state contracting

Broken

The promise

Campaigned on transparent, accountable use of Zamfara's treasury.

Assessment

The EFCC opened a probe into an alleged ₦70 billion in phantom contracts and fund diversion involving over 100 companies with no evidence of services rendered, and a post-tenure state transition committee report put total misapplied or misappropriated funds at over ₦250 billion across the 2019-2023 term.

Fiscal

Leave a solvent treasury for the next administration

Broken

The promise

Promised responsible management of state finances through the tenure.

Assessment

Successor Governor Dauda Lawal said he inherited a near-empty treasury of only ₦4 million in May 2023, alongside four and a half months of unpaid salaries and debts including ₦1.6 billion to the judiciary, ₦1.6 billion to WAEC and ₦1.4 billion to NECO.