By Adedayo Akinwale
The peace that has eluded the Zamfara State chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC)
returned yesterday following the reconciliation of the former Governor of the State, Abdulaziz Yari and Senator Kabiru Marafa.
The reconciliation of the two party chieftains was brokered by the Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of the party and the Governor of Yobe State, Mr. Mai Mala Buni.
The peace meeting also had in attendance the former Governor of the state, Mr. Mahmud Shinkafi.
The supremacy battle between Marafa and Yari led to the loss of all the elective positions in the state to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), due to the inability of the party to conduct party primaries at a stipulated period before the 2019 general election.
But after the reconciliation meeting, which took place at the party secretariat in Abuja and lasted for about three hours, both Yari and Marafa decided to give peace a chance.
Addressing journalists at the end of the meeting, Buni said the committee has been able to reconcile the major actors in the Zamfara APC crisis.
“As you can see today, we are able to achieve reconciliation of our stakeholders in Zamfara State and by extension is the reconciliation of the entire Zamfara APC as a family. With this we have achieved a milestone as Caretaker Committee of this great party, our primary mandate being reconciliation of our members across the country and rebuilding and repositioning of this party at all levels,” Buni said.
On his part, Yari noted that the coming together of himself and Marafa was paramount to the success of the party in the state.
He stated: “We are here on this important mission, which I need not tell you what happened in Zamfara State in the past two years but you can see where we are. This meeting lasted for not more than two to three hours and a lot of things have been discussed. But the most important of what is being discussed – understanding our coming together is paramount for any success now and in the future.
“We have built this party from zero level to where we are and Zamfara has ever remained ANPP- APC state and what led to that success is our coming together. So, that togetherness is what we’re working to achieve in the future and this is the starting point”.
Also speaking, Marafa said he was happy about the reconciliation, stressing that it was an integral part of every human endeavour.
He added: “Like the previous speaker (Yari) said, we are all human beings and we make mistakes and when mistakes happen, it is left to you to use it either as a source of strength or weakness. I hope our own mistake will serve as a source of strength for all of us and for APC itself especially and the country in general”.
