*** Says he assisted Yari to become governor in 2011
*** Speaks on why Buni cannot reconcile aggrieved members
*** Says Yari is misleading Buni’s c’ttee
THE political quagmire between the former Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari and Senator Kabiru Marafa has taken a new twist as the latter has taken a swipe at the former, saying that Yari was misleading the All Progressives Congress, APC Caretaker Committee chaired by the Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni.
According to Marafa who represented Zamfara Central in the 8th Senate said that Buni’s Committee was failing to reconcile aggrieved party members because he was listening to the former Zamfara State governor.
The former Zamfara governor said he told Buni to “get some sleep” because the APC in Zamfara is “intact”.
Yari had made the comment in response to reports that the APC National Working Committee led by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe had plans to meet all the party’s stakeholders in Zamfara over disagreements by key chieftains.
Senator Kabiru Marafa who was reacting to the comments of Zamfara former governor, Abdulaziz Yari that the APC in the state was intact without any upheavals, said that some persons who he described as crooks within the APC were working to Install a sitting APC governor as President Muhammadu Buhari’s Successor come 2023.
Marafa also said that he assisted seriously to make Yari the Governor of the State in 2011.
Senator Marafa in an interview said: “I am not surprised by that statement coming from Yari and I am not bothered. If he says all is well with APC in Zamfara, I agree with him, let us wait for round two.”
While Yari heads a faction of the APC in the northwest state, Marafa, considered a solid grassroots politician, heads another faction
On whether Governor Buni shouldn’t bother intervening the APC crisis in Zamfara, Marafa said: “All I know is the committee is already failing, and they are failing because they are listening to the likes of Yari who always speak from the two sides of their mouth.
“There are a few good people in the committee that mean well to the party and I advise them to wake up and do what they are asked to do and leave the politics of 2023. Nobody can bring the position of national chairman to the north now.
“The moves by some crooks within the governors’ forum to hijack the party and install a serving governor and an expired one to succeed President Buhari will crash the way Yari’s selfish agenda crashed totally.”
READ ALSO: Zamfara APC Crisis: Marafa’s faction disowns him, says he is ‘deadly spoiler’
Responding to insinuations made by Yari that he is part of the Peoples Democratic Party-led government in Zamfara, Marafa said: “I am still in the APC because I choose to, not because of fear of prosecution. I am part and parcel of the efforts that produced APC.
On whether Gov Mai Mala should go to sleep or double his effort is left to him (Mai Mala), the former Senator said, “All I know is the committee is already failing, and they are failing because they are listening to the likes of Yari who always speak from the two sides of their mouth.”
On his role in making Yari the Governor of Zamfara state, Senator Marafa said, “Let me put the record straight; in 2011 when Yari was desperate to become Governor, he came to my house in my village, the night PDP fraudulently denied me ticket in favour of the then incumbent Senator.
“Yari begged me to accept their ticket (ANPP) which at that time meant nothing looking at the fact that the Federal, State and Local Govt were all under the firm control of the PDP.
“He didn’t brought the ticket to my house because he loved me, ANPP offered me ticket because they where desperate to win the election, he pleaded with me to contest because he knew I have people behind me, they loved me and the people of Zamfara Central demonstrated their love for me by giving me 100,000 votes over and above the incumbent senator. The incumbent Senator got 93,000 votes and I got 203,000 votes.
“Sen Yarima who came from the same zone with Yari won marginally with less than 7,000 votes, PDP’s Sen Sahabi Ya’u won the other zone with a margin of about 10,000 votes. So, I brought the winning votes!
“The records are there, and the situation is still the same. It’s after he spent eight years as governor that he thought he was strong enough to uproot me but God taught him the lesson of his life. Or do you think it is easy for a poor senator to challenge a sitting governor, Chairman Governors’ forum with unlimited resources from his state, Paris Club and all other clubs you can think of?
“He could not for instance as a sitting Governor match my rally, he, in fact, could not organize one, my rally was played live on NTA go find and find out, i defeated him hands-down.”
