A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State, Senator Kabir Garba Marafa, has distanced himself from the purported reconciliatory meeting between former governor of the state, Abdulaziz Yari and members of the G-8 in the state.
Yari, according to the publicity secretary of his APC faction in Zamfara state, Shehu Isah, met with some members of the G-8 reportedly to resolve the crisis rocking the party in the state.
The feud between Yari and the G-8 negated the fortunes of the party in the last general elections in the state. The G-8 was a group of eight aggrieved governorship aspirants in the state.
Reacting, Senator Marafa in a statement issued on Thursday said he was not part of what he tagged, as “charade peace parley.
“I was neither contacted nor consulted by anybody for any peace parley to resolve the APC crisis in Zamfara state.
“He (Yari) rejected and deliberately thwarted all efforts to reach amicable settlement and peaceful resolution of the crisis by the leadership of our party, the presidency, political associates and well-wishers because he had state and Governors forum’s resources, influence and powers at his disposal at that time. He hung on to a baseless, hopeless and useless judgement he procured from his State High Court which fell flat before both the esteemed superior justices of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
“Now that he is out of power and out of favour from God and the people, he is now trying to come up with a kangaroo peace meeting to relaunch himself to relevance. He refused to listen to the voice(s) of reason when peace would have benefited our people and party,” Marafa said.
Sen Marafa, who reaffirmed his commitment and loyalty to the APC, said ” I remain loyal and committed to the APC at the National level. Also, I’m committed and loyal to my faction of the APC in Zamfara state, no retreat no surrender.
“The genesis of our party’s challenges and eventual misfortunes in Zamfara State started with Yari’s characteristic illiteracy, stubbornness and abominable act of playing God when he in fact was a paper tiger, a nonentity.”
The former lawmaker also said he was irrevocably committed to the emerging peaceful atmosphere permeating Zamfara state.
“I’m in total support of the initiatives and efforts embarked upon by the present administration of Zamfara state. I will partner with the government in providing a lasting solution to our security problems,” he said.
Marafa, who traced how the G-8 was formed, said all other members of the group, except him were in Yari’s camp until when he (Yari) released the list of his anointed candidates for various elective positions without any one of them.
“That was when the seven (7) of them broke away from Yari and joined me to form what is now known as the G8.
I have always believed and know that some of them will find their ways back to Yari, because the intention behind their struggle is selfish
“I started my battle to ensure that our party’s constitution and electoral act are respected during our party’s congresses. This is why we had a parallel party executives in the state till this moment,”he said.
