Zamfara APC crisis: Buni reconciles Yari, Marafan factions

Yobe State Governor and Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Mai Mala Buni, on Monday, met with aggrieved chieftains of the party from Zamfara State in Abuja.

In attendance at the meeting held at the party national secretariat were immediate past governor of the North-West State, Abdul Aziz Yari, former governor, Mahmud Shinkafi and Senator Kabiru Marafan amongst other chieftains.

The Zamfara State chapter of the party has been polarised into factions owing to power tussle between Yari and Senator Marafan. The primaries conducted by the party was adjudged invalid by the Independent National Electoral Commission which precluded APC from fielding candidates for the 2019 general elections.

Its governorship candidate, Mukhtar Idris was however declared the winner in the governorship election in Zamfara State.

His mandate along with other candidates of the APC who won seats in the state and national Assemblies were reversed by the Supreme Court which upheld the verdict of the Court of Appeals which affirmed INEC stance that the ruling party did not conduct valid primaries.

Speaking after a troubleshooting meeting at the instance of Governor Buni, the duo of Alhaji Yari and Senator Marafan pledged to allow peace to reign in the state chapter of APC.

The former governor who said he was not happy with the APC loss of relevance in the state said he was willing to work with his main rival, Senator Marafan.

He said: ” 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, is 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 remain 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. This is rather symbolic, it’s real that we understand all of us are human beings and are bound to make mistakes and that mistakes can be corrected so that we can come together to achieve a target and go and bring back our party to limelight in the State and also maintain in the centre.

A lot of things have been said but the most important thing is we are together and this is the beginning and what happened in the past will never repeat itself.’

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Senator Marafan who spoke in a similar vein, however, maintained that there were so many hurdles to cross to achieve lasting peace.

“I am delighted to be here because reconciliation is an integral part of every human endeavour. Like the previous speaker said we are all human beings and we make mistakes and when mistakes happen, it is left for us 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.

“Our country is facing very serious challenges. Our party was given unprecedented support that has never been given any party in Nigeria and we owe the party and Mr President a duty to support them and support Mr President to deliver especially for us coming from Zamfara state and the North West, in particular, we are facing very serious problems and for that reason, I think no amount of effort will be too much.

“I received a call from my friend and leader, the Governor of Yobe State to come and attend a meeting. Despite the short notice, I felt anybody that calls you for reconciliation meeting, he or she calls you to goodness and I attended because of that reason and I’m very happy with the robust decisions or discussions that we had in his office. I want to use this medium to tell Nigerians today we initiated the process, let me put it that way because we are not the only people we have behind us and these people have absolute confidence in all of us.

“So today marks the very beginning in the chapter of APC in Zamfara State and I hope, given the assurances that I heard from various speakers during the meeting that at the end of the tunnel we would see light.

“I thank everybody and I thank Nigerians for understanding with all of us especially during the period of crisis and for our supporters back home, I want to assure all of them that both of us are committed to their welfare and their progress we sleep with them in our hearts and we wake up with them in our hearts.

“We may not necessarily measure up to their expectations because we are human beings and Zamfara is over 4 million people so there is no way we can please each and every one of them but I want to use this medium to tell them that we will do our utmost best all of us here to make sure that we carry the majority of them in whatever decision we are going to take and God is going to see us through.”

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Zamfara APC crisis: Buni reconciles Yari, Marafan factions