Crisis brews in Zamfara APC, as Yari, Marafa, reject Matawalle as leader

Former Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, and the Senator representing Zamfara Central in the National Assembly, Kabiru Garba Marafa, have both rejected Governor Bello Matawalle as the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State and Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the APC, had, while receiving Matawalle who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday in Gusau, declared him as the leader of the party.

Buni had also announced the dissolution of the APC executives at all levels in the state, thereby giving the governor the opportunity to reconstitute a new executive structure.

However, while featuring on BBC Hausa Service on Thursday, a former governor of the state, Yari and Marafa, rejected Buni’s declaration, saying Matawalle is not the leader of the party.

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.

“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.

Read also: BANDITRY: Zamfara APC to take on Assembly for dissolving LG councils

“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.

Also baring his mind, Marafa said the declaration of Matawalle as the leader of the party in the state was tantamount to deception, and would be rejected vehemently.

“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.

“We will not accept Matawalle as the leader of APC in Zamfara. We will reject such imposition vehemently,” he said.

By Isaac Dachen…

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