The governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, on Saturday said he will not tolerate a disrespectful attitude from his deputy, Mahdi Aliyu.
Mr Matawalle is angry over a recent political rally that the deputy governor held to reaffirm his loyalty to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
They both came into government as candidates of PDP but Mr Matawalle and virtually all the other elected officials in the state, last month, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It was reported earlier that the state House of Assembly initiated plans to sanction Mr Aliyu for holding the rally while killings by bandits are still going on in Zamfara.
This has led to speculations that the lawmakers want to use the matter to impeach Mr Aliyu, who refused to follow them to the APC.
The House has summoned Mr Aliyu to appear before it to explain why he held the rally without considering the security situation and “in disrespect of advice by the security authorities in the state”.
Mr Matawalle also reprimanded the deputy governor when he commented on the summon in an interview with DW Hausa Service on Saturday.
“I just read about the impeachment plan and called someone for clarification who told me that they would not accept it from the deputy governor to be organising rallies when people are being killed,” he said.
“As governor of the state, I promised to work together with the deputy governor irrespective of our political affiliations. But I won’t tolerate a disrespectful attitude from him.
“I won’t join issue with him but if he dares me, I will give him the treatment he deserves,” the governor said.
“We all agreed to halt any political rally welcoming politicians into the state since we lost some of our supporters while welcoming us.
“The deputy governor should have notified me of whatever he planned to do. Being of different political parties does not mean I am no longer his boss. Since the defection, he has stopped associating with me.
“I am the chief security officer of the state. I won’t tolerate any person trying to breach the security of the state,” the governor said.
The deputy governor has not responded to the governor’s comments.
His known phone numbers did not connect Saturday morning.
