The power and judicial tussle in Zamfara state arising from All Progressives Congress (APC) primary elections has now been settled. In a letter addressed to the APC, INEC said, “Based on Section 87 and 31 of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended, the commission does not expect that your party will submit names of any candidate from Zamfara state.
“For clarity, our position, therefore, is that the APC will not be fielding candidates for the Governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly elections.”
It is worthy to note that a true statesman cannot fold his arms if he sees evil going on in his country. Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Kabiru Marafa, who was elected on the platform of the ruling APC, representing Zamfara Central, is a true statesman. As you stood against the insecurity bedeviling the state, equally, on the issue of the botched primaries, he stood by the truth until falsehood was defeated.
The combined influence of a sitting governor of his state and chairman of his party could not stop the cause he championed. This is a clear sign to the people of Zamfara that the state power has shifted to the distinguished senator.
In Zamfara state primary elections, a faction backed by the sitting governor of the state and chairman, Nigerian Governors Forum, Abdul’Aziz Yari, wanted to follow a short cut to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s office with names of his loyalists as winners of the primary election, but for Marafa, an error would have been committed by the electoral body; an error of accepting unpopular persons who are said to have emerged through a mimicry and parroting as the true representatives of the people of Zamfara .
Earlier, there had been a suit filed by some disgruntled elements in the Zamfara APC who said that they had emerged from a consensus and dubious arrangement adopted by the party in the state, and took their names to INEC for recognition.
Marafa had challenged the judgement of a Zamfara State High Court, affirming that primaries were conducted by the Yari-led faction in the state instead of the National Secretariat and the INEC. This led to a prolonged judicial tussle by Marafa on one hand and the Yari led faction on the other, until Friday when the judgement came in favour of Senator Marafa.
Like all well-meaning people of Zamfara state, Senator Marafa hailed the judgement of a Federal High Court in Abuja, delivered by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, which upheld the INEC rejection of Zamfara APC candidates for its primary elections. The need to hail the judgement by the distinguished senator arose out of his desire to show Nigeria and the world that he meant well for Zamfara people by challenging the authenticity of the list the Gov. Yari faction of APC submitted to INEC. Hence, his active involvement in the political and judicial tussles following the state primary elections where an unpopular group, cleverly called APC faction, wanted to foist itself on the good people of Zamfara.
In fact, the distinguished senator needs to celebrate the court judgement in his favour in a grander way because this is a sign that he wields a lot of political clout both in his state and at the national levels. The judgement has vindicated the senator and put his detractors to shame.
Marafa, in a reaction to the court judgement delivered Friday, said it had ended the political dynasty that brought in Governor Abdul’Aziz Yari as governor. There is no truer statement than this. The confused people of Zamfara who were divided over the tussle now know the personality with whom the truth lays.
To save face, Governor Yari, in his own reaction, said he had forgiven APC over the unfair treatment it meted out to his faction. No. APC did not mete out any injustice to him, rather, he had caused unnecessary hullaballoo in the Zamfara polity, and thus it is the people of Zamfara and INEC that should forgive him and not the other way round.
Smarting from the pain of a huge blow, Yari led the Zamfara APC governorship candidate, Mukhtar Idris, to Aso Rock Villa to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari insisting that the party was not fair to the state chapter over the controversy that surrounded the governorship primary election. But this is crying over spilt milk.
Why did INEC reject Yari faction? INEC had rejected the list of candidates submitted by a faction of the Zamfara APC led by Governor Yari on the ground that proper procedure was not followed and those duly responsible to conduct the primaries were not involved. The aggrieved went to court to challenge INEC but the truth, like a lifebuoy which cannot be hidden in the sea, came out on Friday.
The court held that INEC acted within its purview by refusing to accept list of candidates for the general elections from a faction of the party in Zamfara state.
The no nonsense INEC’s rejection of the APC list submitted by the Yari faction was intended to curb impunity among political parties and politicians and ensure that the rule of law prevails in our polity. In this case, all well-meaning Zamfara people should equally join the distinguished Senator Marafa to celebrate the victory of good over evil.
Yari technically agreed that his reign and that of Senator Sani Yerima had come to an end by this Abuja high court judgement.
“Some other people are saying that the reign of Yerima and Yari for 20 years is over in Zamfara state, but I believe Almighty God to give power to whomsoever he desires to give and he promised to sustain the power as long as you uphold justice.”
How apt this statement is? This judgement has portrayed Marafa as a true citizen of Zamfara who will not see evil and fold his arms without fighting it with all the power at his disposal.
Those who lost in the suit knew that they were wrong. Therefore, in spite of what they described as conflicting statements from the INEC’s national office and its Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), they said, “The state REC went around and supervised as allowed by law. Unfortunately, INEC headquarters did not wait to receive the report by the REC there and it went ahead with a pronouncement.”
The court said the decision to reject the list was within the powers vested in the commission by the constitution.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu in her judgement said that APC’s failure to conduct a valid primary within the stipulated time could not be blamed on INEC.
The judge said INEC’s action was intended to curb impunity among political parties and politicians, and ensure that the rule of law prevail no matter the circumstances and personalities involved.
A state High Court sitting in Gusau had in October issued an interim order restraining INEC from disqualifying the APC from fielding candidates for the 2019 elections.
Governor Yari, when he had seen the hand writing on the wall, urged all APC members in Zamfara state to conduct the primaries individually to beat the 12 midnight deadline of INEC, a directive Marafa described as an invitation to anarchy.
‘’It is unfortunate that the governor after deliberately frustrating the conduct of the exercise will now be asking the people to conduct the exercise themselves.
“This is an invitation to anarchy and we will never be part of any illegality aimed at pushing the state into anarchy.”
Gladly, despite this judgement, the governor said Zamfara is still 100 per cent APC and would deliver, adding that the opposition knew they stood no chance in the state and that credit goes to Sen. Marafa. This is good development for Zamfara.
Ahmed writes from Gusau, Zamfara state.
