By Chuks Okocha
Despite assurances given by the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, that he would not defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC), former state Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, has cautioned the incumbent governor that he would lose his seat if he left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) going by the Supreme Court verdict that brought him to office in 2019.
Yari disclosed this at the secretariat of the APC in Gusau, the state capital, last Sunday during the distribution of N1.3billon worth of assorted grains he purchased for the party’s supporters for Ramadan.
The former governor, who was represented by Senator Kabiru Marafa, however, said nobody had informed them either in writing or verbally that Matawalle was planning defection to the APC.
In video clips made available to THISDAY, Yari, however, warned that the Supreme Court nullified the election of the APC candidates in 2019 and declared the PDP candidates as winners.
The former governor explained: “As such, until after that period, any PDP elected officer who defects to another party must also vacate his seat going by the court judgment.”
According to Yari, Matawalle was being misled by some people to join the APC, “forgetting the circumstances that made him the governor of the state.”
Recent reports had alleged that Matawalle had concluded plans to dump the PDP after some APC governors visited him.
However, the governor’s participation at the PDP governors’ meeting in Makurdi, Benue State, last Friday appeared to have disappointed those who peddled the rumour that he was about to defect to the APC.
Matawalle was in high spirits when he met with his colleagues, and commended the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, for being a wonderful host.
Meanwhile, Matawalle has denied making any arrangement to quit the PDP for the APC.
A statement issued last week by the governor’s Director-General of Media and Public Enlightenment Affairs, Government House, Yusuf Idris Gusau, said Matawalle described the people disseminating “the unfounded and baseless information as power-drunk politicians looking for cheap publicity.”
