The Senator representing Zamfara
central senatorial district and governorship aspirant, Kabiru Marafa, Thursday,
aligned himself with the position of the Independent National Electoral
Commission, INEC, barring the state chapter of the All Progressive Congress,
APC, from fielding both governorship and senatorial candidates for the 2019
general elections.
It would be recalled that the
INEC boss, Yakubu Mahmood following the electoral timetable, as derived
affirmed that the state APC had lost the opportunity to conduct primaries and
produce candidates for the said elective positions in the state.
But the APC national chairman,
Adams Oshiomohole disagreed with the electoral umpire, saying there were
consensus candidates for the elections.
In a swift reaction in Abuja,
Marafa refuted Oshiomhole’s claim and asserted that there was neither election
nor consensus by the aspirants.
In his words, “I read the letter
from INEC where they quoted some sections of the law that influenced their
position. I also read the response made by the APC National Chairman. I want to
believe the chairman was misled by the APC electoral committee that came to
Zamfara.
“But as a stakeholder who was
present and witnessed the whole process that happened, there was no election in
Zamfara on the Saturday October 7, 2018. Also, there was no consensus from
anybody or by anybody. So, the APC electoral committee reported in the
contrary, I think that was absolutely wrong.
“I always stand by the side of
the truth. I want to say the truth even if it is against me.
“I’m an APC member to the core
and, I am still with the APC, notwithstanding that the chances are becoming
bleak, may be for me as a politician. But I believe in the party. But if the
party does anything wrong, I should have the courage to say this thing is
wrong.
“If the party has any way within
the law to fill any candidate, I will be happy.
“But when the issues are based on
a wrong foundation and you force any consensus as being claimed when there was
none, there is going to be a revolt that there was no consensus and, anybody
has the right to go to court.
“By and large, the only thing I
saw wrong in the letter is the assertion that there was a consensus.
And there was no consensus.
“We are gubernatorial aspirants
but some people stepped down. For the remaining five aspirants, there was no
consensus till the end of the exercise.
“The truth of the matter is that
the APC electoral committee tried to achieve a consensus among the aspirants
for the governorship and senatorial aspirants but the two factions of the party
could not agree”.
When grilled if has the option to
dump the APC for the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, as being reported
by some dailies, he said, “if we cannot field any candidates for the reasons as
stated, it means we cannot. Any attempt to do otherwise, I think will put the
party in a more precarious situation which I think is avoidable.
“So, if we are not allowed to do
it, we can look at other options. But there are those that don’t have any
options. We can stay around for another four years and learn the other side of
politics.
“Our constitution doesn’t say
only one party should go for the general elections. If I am in APC, are you
saying going into election on the platform of another political party means
working against the APC? It is my constitutional right”.
The lawmaker, however, said the
problem in the state was about gross negligence on the part of the state
government in protecting lives and property of the citizens.
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