Three stalwarts of the All Progressives Congress are fighting on different flanks for the leadership of the party in Zamfara State. They are even involved in the melee within the rank and file of the APC. They are fighting for one thing in diverse ways....CONTINUE READING
The saga can be ended if the three men are brought to a roundtable meeting and the lingering issues are discussed. But if concrete actions are not done on the matter, any of the three can grind the Zamfara State APC to a halt. Each is capable enough to stop the party from functioning in the state.
Mr. Abdulaziz Yari, the immediate past governor of the state, leads the list. He has been driving the party since his time as the governor of the state. Even when he left power in 2019, he was still able to lead the party until recently when things began to change.
The national caretaker committee sacked and dissolved the APC leadership in Zamfara State few months ago. The leadership was loyal to the former state governor, Yari, and it was headed by one Honourable Lawal Liman Gabon. And the dissolved executives went to the Federal High Court, Gusau. It lost the case and it is getting ready for appeal.
The dissolution was done in order to pave the way for the return of current governor Bello Matawalle. He left the People’s Democratic Party, which brought him to his office. And as the norm in the country, the state governor is the head of the party in the state.
Bello Matawalle’s faction had conducted congresses in order to choose the leadership of the party. Executives have emerged. But while they were being chosen, another camp was conducting its own congress. And this introduces the third stalwart in the whole saga.
Mr. Kabiru Marafa isn’t a new name in the Zamfara State politics. He was a member of the House of Senate. And he took an active role in the crisis that engulfed the APC in 2018 and 2019. The crisis stopped the party from claiming victory in the last general elections.
Mr. Marafa now leads the main faction that is challenging Matawalle’s faction in the Zamfara State APC. He has been bold enough to ensure that his faction chose leaders to steer the affairs of the party. Hence, Marafa is running parallel leadership. Note that Marafa and Yari were at loggerheads sometimes ago. The two of them lost out eventually.