Firstly, for Ahmed Sani Yarima to proclaim that former Governor of Zamfara state and immediate past Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Abdulaziz Yari, has outlived his usefulness and is finished politically in Zamfara and beyond, obviously shows Yarima knows nothing about Yari’s political relevance in the current scheme of things, or his political sagacity, and his fighting spirit for the next battle coming up in the 2023 general electiond.
For the All Progressives Congress (APC) to move on after 2023 in the Northwest and in Zamfara state, His Excellency Abdulaziz Yari remains a useful ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, whether he is a governor or not. But disgruntled politicians in Zamfara state may continue to waste precious time trying to, in the name of probity, accountability and opposition, hang or hate Abdulaziz Yari.
The misinformation by Yarima around the man Abdul’aziz Yari, who ruled Zamfara state since 2011, became spooky since the day he left office; some even went to the extent of thinking that Yari has been used and dumped by the presidency. But the loss that the APC suffered in Zamfara was not because of Yari, but because of the duplicity of intentions of the party at its headquarters that the party hierarchy introduced in 2019, which made the party a sorry sight by the end of elections in April.
If Yarima says that APC lost Zamfara because of its former Governor Abdulaziz Yari, why did it suffer a similar fate in Bauchi, Adamawa, Sokoto and Gombe states? Governor Abdulaziz Yari’s enemies are the most uncharitable people on earth. They feed on spurious allegations of graft and state debt all concocted to witch-hunt the man who until today was President Buhari’s best ally for shaping Nigeria.
It is already clear that even the uninitiated can counter Yarima’s lies because of his lack of empirical chronology and scarcity of logic. How on earth would anyone accuse a former government that built a thousand kilometers of roads of leaving nothing on ground. The Yari administration did all the federal roads for which the new government is already warming up to receive refunds.
But this isn’t the only raw speculation by Yarima around the man, Yari; there are also growing speculations by Yarima that Yari hasn’t cut the mustard with the Buhari administration, especially the president’s party, the APC, which suffered defeat in Zamfara state because of Supreme cyourt judgement on review.
There are also allegations by Yarima that are flying at state level; that Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar is planning to go against Buhari and APC in Zamfara state. These are all mere saying and untrue fabricated lies by Yarima just to tarnish the hard earned reputations of Yari at the Presidency.
Not done, Yari’s traducers also went further to link the former governor with the deep fissure in the APC at its national headquarters. Yari’s enemies concocted a story that Buhari never helped Zamfara at Supreme Court but welcomed Bello Matawalle indirectly to the party.
But knowing Yari and his strong bond with President Buhari, it is inconceivable that the train of Buhari’s next level government would be without the former Zamfara governor.
In fact, judging by the enormous responsibilities that the president left in the hands of Yari while he was chairman of the NGF and the clinical manner with which Yari executed the briefs, not once or twice but several times over, to deny him a critical role simply for certain obsequious primordial considerations of a few APC hawks would mean that the government isn’t interested in continuity. Or how can a plane take-off without its flight engineer?
On the political front, it’s very important for Yarima to remember that Abdulaziz Yari single-handedly coordinated the Forward with Buhari campaigns which had monumental impact on the president’s return to power. Before this organisation was founded, close allies of the president, especially the cabal, began to express some hesitation or skepticism on whether or not the presidential campaign train was in full steam. Yari Abubakar did it. Buhari was reelected and he is at the Presidential Villa now, a courtesy of Yari’s commitment and dedication.
Former Governor Abdulaziz Yari may be many things to many people; but one thing nobody can take away from this ebullient politician is that he never fights half battles; he never fights and runs away; and he never gives up. This deeply religious former governor who revels in the creation that he is “Sheihi” because of his knowledge of Islam, was able to gain the trust of President Buhari to the extent that between 2016 and 2019, no other politician had ever worked for President Buhari like Yari.
Finally, Yarima should come back to his sense, as there is no time and political season that the name of Yari will be excluded in the history of Zamfara. In fact, is this Abdul’aziz Yari that some hawks like Yarima in the APC want to throw to the cubs and label as a finished politician? Yarima should be stupid of the year.
Fussy is the Secretary General, Concerned Citizens of Zamfara.
