I Control Zamfara Not You, Yari Dares Buni

Says even Buhari can’t deny members their constitutional power

Emameh Gabriel in Abuja

A former Governor of Zamfara State, Abdul’aziz Yari, has described any attempt by his successor, Governor Bello Matawalle and the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to dismantle the existing structure of the party in the state as an effort in futility, because he controlled Zamfara and not Buni.

He also added that not even President Muhammadu Buhari had the power to deny existing party members of the state their power as enshrined in the constitution of the party, warning further that APC in Zamfara was too powerful to be taken for a ride as against the case withCross River and Ebonyi States.

Yari, at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday night, where he was joined by Senator Kabiru Mafara, the party chairman in the state and other APC faithful, insisted that he would not accept anything below the initial agreement reached by both sides, which exclusively reserved the state party chairman for his camp.

He said while he would continue to open door for talks to fortify the party’s chances ahead of 2023, Governor Matawalle and the leadership of the APC at the national level should play by the rules as there was an existing gentlemanly agreement earlier proposed by the governor and his camp on who takes what and gets what.

Yari noted that he summoned the briefing to keep the public abreast of the position of his camp after a purported dissolution of the existing structure of the party by the Buni-led CECPC in June, which a subsisting court order has invalidated. He expressed disappointment over a directive issued by the national body of the party, instructing a committee said to have been purportedly set up to open new registers to commence registration of new members into the party.

At the defection ceremony of Matawalle, Buni, who is also the Governor of Yobe State, had announced the dissolution of the executive council of the party in Zamfara and declared Governor Matawalle as the new leader of the party in the state.

But Marafa had immediately said Buni’s pronouncement was not part of the agreement reached before his defection and insisted that his declaration as leader of APC in the state would not stand.

Matawalle had taken with him to the APC, all but one member of the state House of Assembly, all senators and six of the seven members of House of Representatives from the state, which could be a good ground for horse-trading.

But at yesterday’s briefing, Yari recounted how they had negotiated terms on how the party could be best run to accommodate all tendencies, both old and new.

“We have been talking since then. You may recall last weekend that he paid a visit to distinguished senator Marafa’s house and in the night, I joined them to discuss further. In the top most of that meeting, he decided to discuss how best we can come together and have an excellent way to start.

Where in the initial shake-up, we gave the committee our proposal. We intend to have this kind of harmonised meeting with his side and our side. But we couldn’t get that because some of the organisers said they don’t have time but we can make a presentation and then it would be taken up at Gusau

“We arrived Gusau around 5 to 6pm. Earlier on, we have put up our own memorandum, that this is what we are looking for. This is what we intend to do as a party. We own the party. We said we were going to relinquish 20 per cent to them and hold 80 per cent. And we were expecting him to relinquish 20 per cent of his government to us and then he holds 80 per cent of his government.

“That was the initial proposal we gave, but in the discussion, the governor said why don’t you make it 50-50 so you can have more people to work together and blend. So, we agreed with the solution of the governor. We now came down to our initial proposal from 80-20 to 50-50 but we are going to hold the chairmanship to our side, because reason is that there is no competent person to handle that because of our lager people in the communities, in the society and in the party.

“When he visited Marafa, he spoke to him and he said he wanted to take 70 per cent and I said no. If you want to take 70 per cent of the party, I don’t know who you are going to give it to because we know ourselves and we know who is going to do the work at the grassroots. And these people that have been winning the election long time ago under you will leave us and the party will get to no where.

“So let’s agree on one thing and governor insisted on 70-30. Therefore let’s agree on what the governor said on 50-50 we will take the party chairman. We will continue to see whether further consensus could be made along the line including the year 2023.

“Now he came to Marafa and he said he is still adamant on 70-30 and we said we are going to hold our meeting with our people and discuss. Yesterday, we met and today we continue till now. So, we find it imperative to let the public know where we are.

“We have given him the proposal that we are still agreeing on what we agreed with the governors before going to Gusau: 50-50 and the chairman will come our side. We are now waiting for him to respond,” he explained.

Yari also described the decision by the Buni’s CECPC to form a parallel executive in the state as not only unconstitutional but contempt of court.

He noted: “You remember Mai Buni’s Committee, when they went to Gusau, he made the announcement that he, the chairman as caretaker, that he dissolved the wards and local government. But I and Marafa, our group said no. Mr. Chairman, you have gone against the constitution because the constitution does not empower you to do that.

“So, some of the local government chairmen of the party went to court and challenge the pronouncement. And a court order has been issued and that the status quo should remain. The order is still valid and is here with us.

“He said in part of the negotiation, the constitution is very clear that a ward shall have one register. When we saw the secretary write a letter saying there would be new registration, we said no! You can’t do new registration. You can only open register for those that are not registered.

“You have to look at the law. There is no provision that says if someone comes in, to say that you have now suspended, strike or dismissed all the registers and they should come and do new one. I haven’t seen it in the constitution. We are registered members. What the party should have said is that we should open and give opportunity to those that came in to register. That is the way to go about it.

“By what they did yesterday, I think it’s against the order of the court. It’s a clear contempt of the court. If you are looking for how we can settle the dust, you cannot start in that manner. We just want to make it very clear that we welcome the development that he came to us and we discussed. We will continue to discuss. Whether he agrees or disagrees, we will inform you.

“The state secretariat formed a new committee despite a court order. The court order is talking about APC national secretariat. The court ordered them not to take any action till that case is exhausted. So, they went ahead and sent the committee to go and do registration,which is a clear contempt of the court.

“They are trying to create an issue, which is not an issue. We have books that we registered people. Our people are the custodians of those books. And the court ordered that status quo should remain. We expected him to say, ‘chairman, go to your people, open the books, call the governor and register the people. Now, we are waiting to see how many people he is going to register in that state.

“There is not where he can say this is my stand, because as I told you, Zamfara is not Ebonyi; Zamfara is not Cross River, where we are weak there. We are strong in Zamfara State and we are united. Even the President cannot deny the power of the people in Zamfara State, because in his life history of being in politics, he has never lost Zamfara State. I think it’s for the advantage of the governor to work with these people and see no victor, no vanquished, and we are ready,” he said.