The Zamfara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been embroiled in a lingering crisis since Governor Bello Matawalle defected to the party in June.
But the crisis has worsened following the conduct of ward congresses in the state despite a court injunction suspending all activities of the party in Zamfara.
But as expected, the congresses fail to unite leaders and members of the party in the state by reopening old wounds and creating new factions.
As at the time the ward congress was said to have been concluded, three factions had emerged from the party but only the faction belonging to the state Governor Matawalle has accepted the outcome while the others, supported by former governor, AbdulAziz Yari, and Senator Kabiru Marafa, have disagreed with the conduct of the exercise.
The Yari faction even boycotted the congress based on a court order stopping APC activities in the state pending the determination of a suit challenging the dissolution of the state exco by the National Caretaker Committee of the party.
The Marafa camp which has gone its separate ways by participating in the congress is also contesting the legality of the exercise, saying whatever the outcome is cannot stand since the APC flouted basic rules guiding such exercises to hold the congress.
Marafa is threatening to institute a legal action against the chairman of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC, Mai Mala Buni, over the violation of the party’s constitution in the conduct of its affairs.
The caretaker committee through its secretary, Sen. John James Akpanudodehe, had on Monday, warned Marafa to submit to party supremacy or be sanctioned but Marafa who reacted to the threat, said he cannot be silenced by the threat of the caretaker committee.
Indeed, threatening Marafa cannot be the solution as his position on the matter is backed by both the Constitution of Nigeria and that of the APC.
The APC will do well to consider the points raised by Marafa as failure to do so portends grave danger for the APC in Zamfara State.
If the outcome of the Matawalle-induced Saturday congress is upheld and the process is allowed to continue, it will amount to letting the governor have his way at the detriment of the other leaders which renders the initial postponement of the congresses useless.
Moreover, it will mean shutting the door to the real people behind the success of the party in Zamfara.
The APC will do well to remember that in 2019 when the governorship election was held in the state, that those it is now choosing to take over the reins of the party could not win even a single seat in the state House of Assembly and lost the seat of the governor woefully until the court acting on technicalities, reversed the wins for the APC.
What this means is that the real mass mobilisers who worked for the success of the party are the ones being sidelined now.
Being the leader of the party in the state has to do more with coordination of party leaders, members and activities to give it an edge over the other competing parties and does not mean that he owns the party and can do whatever he wants to do with it.
The Mai Mala Buni committee should address this drift in time before it deteriorates. It should not allow one man whose only interest in the party is based on his ambition to return as governor destroy the party.
Musa Dangusau wrote from Gusau.
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