The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Zamfara State may be heading for a crisis following the recent defection of the Governor, Bello Mohammed from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the APC.
There are fears that the former Governor of the state, Abdulaziz Yari, who holds considerable influence in the party, may be forming a parallel APC in the state, as the incumbent governor assumed control and leadership of the party with the backing of the party’s National Caretaker Committee.
The political storm is already raging following the defection of the Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Mohammed, from the PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
More so is the dissolution of the APC state executives in Zamfara State last Tuesday by the APC Chairman, Caretaker/ Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee, ostensibly to prepare the ground for Governor Bello to assume control of the party in the state.
The dissolution is generating apathy as those who considered themselves the foundation members of the party such as the former Governor Yari will certainly lose their influence on the party structure.
Already, the Honorary Special Adviser to the Governor on Inter-Governmental Affairs to Governor Bello, Abdullahi Shinkafi, is calling on the APC Caretaker/Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee to discipline former Governor Yari and Senator Kabiru Marafa for going against the decision of the party.
He alleged that Yari and Senator Kabiru Marafa’s camp want to create a faction in the party, hence they should be expelled from the APC as political rebels.
Abdullahi Shinkafi, who recently dumped the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, for the APC with Governor Bello Mohammed, accused former Governor Yari and Senator Marafa, of attempting to bring the party to disrepute and public ridicule.
He expressed surprise that after the two chieftains of the APC in Zamfara State, Yari, and Senator Marafa had agreed with the defection of Governor Mohammed to the ruling party, they later disagreed with the decision of the Caretaker/ Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee.
Shinkafi urged Governor Nasiru El- Rufai of Kaduna State to stay away from Zamfara State politics, to avoid creating hatred and political crisis in the state.
Yari and Senator Marafa’s camp of the APC in Zamfara in a reaction to a call for the National Caretaker/Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee to expel them, the chairman Publicity Committee of the camp, Ibrahim Muhammad, said the Honorary Special Adviser to Governor Mohammed on Inter-Governmental Affairs is not a registered member of the APC and therefore, he can not speak for the Party.
He advised him to go to his polling unit to register as the card-carrying member of the APC in the State before he can now talk but anything short of this, he should remain silent.
The Chairman Publicity Committee of the Yari and Senator Kabiru Marafa’s camp, Ibrahim Muhammad, also claimed that as far they are concerned, those who were received by the Chairman Caretaker/ Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC, Mai Mala Buni, on May 29, are not registered members of the APC in Zamfara State.
