Zamfara APC: Fresh Crisis Thrives As Yari, Marafa Reject Buni’s Declaration Of Matawalle As Leader

Following the rejection of the statement by Yobe State governor and chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) caretaker committee that Governor Bello Matawalle is now the party’s leader, a new controversy has erupted in Zamfara State.

Buni declared the dissolution of the APC executives in Zamfara State and named Matawalle as the party’s leader while accepting Matawalle into the ruling party in Gusau on Tuesday.

However, a former governor of the state, Abdulaziz Yari, and Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa, both of whom appeared on BBC Hausa Service on Thursday, contradicted Buni’s proclamation, claiming that Matawalle is not the party’s leader.

The duo, who spoke after a meeting with the Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, said they would not surrender to the Matawalle leadership.

Yari said; “It’s one thing that we are challenging, which is the declaration by Governor Mai Mala. His declaration was not part of what we discussed with six governors before he (Matawalle) defected.

“What we all agreed during our meeting with the six governors was that Matawalle should be received into our fold and afterwards we should discuss how to integrate both his people and ours. But during the defection, we were told that the party executives should be dissolved. You just don’t dissolve executives of a party because nobody has the power to do so,” Yari said.

On his part, Marafa said the declaration of Matawalle as the leader of the party in the state was tantamount to deception, insisting that they would not accept it.

“We said for proper integration, there should be a meeting for proper consultations but all of a sudden, announcement was made that the party executives had been dissolved and someone was named as leader of our party. This is incorrect,” he said.

NEWS DIRECT reports that until February, Yari and Marafa were of different camps in the Zamfara State APC. The intervention by Buni ended the feud between the two political gladiators which caused APC Zamfara State in the 2019 polls.

When contacted on the issue, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of APC, Yekini Nabena, told Newsmen n a telephone interview that the party was not aware of the development and so would not comment.