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Tag: Yari

  • Eid-el-kabir: Sen. Yari gives N300m to Zamfara APC supporters

    Eid-el-kabir: Sen. Yari gives N300m to Zamfara APC supporters

    Sen. Abdulaziz Yari, representing Zamfara West Senatorial District, on Sunday donated  N300 million to APC officials and supporters across the state.
    Yari announced the donation through the State Chairman of the party, Alhaji Tukur Danfulani, at the Senator’s residence in Talata Mafara during a meeting with the party stakeholders.

    Yari said the gesture was to assist the stakeholders and party  supporters to celebrate Eid-el-kabir with ease.

    According to him, the welfare packages are meant to reduce the economic hardships the people are facing.
    He urged APC supporters  to pray for  the success of their  leaders and party at all levels.
     Yari, who later addressed the party loyalists, thanked them for their support and loyalty during the concluded general elections in the country.
    Yari renewed his commitment to support the Tinubu administration in all aspects, especially in the fight against insecurity and other heinous crimes.
    He said: “What translated in the general poll and that of National Assembly elections was destiny that only geared up our political ambition.
    “We will therefore, continue to remain loyal to our party and the government to attract development.”

    Yari’s donation came few days after distributing 400 rams, 1000 cows to the supporters and another 500 rams to his neighbours in Talata Mafara Local Government Area of the state

  • Senate Presidency: Senators betrayed me, says Yari

    Senate Presidency: Senators betrayed me, says Yari

    Aftermath of the 10th assembly election, the former governor of Zamfara State , Senator Abdulaziz Yari has accused senators of betraying him over the Senate Presidency position.

    On Tuesday, Godwill Akpabio, a former Akwa Ibom State Governor polled 63 votes to defeat Yari who scored 46 votes.

    However, Yari said he was hoping to get 61 out of the 109 votes which could have seen him emerge as the Senate President.

    Speaking in an interview with journalists on Thursday in Abuja, Yari said: “Yes, I can say there was a betrayal. That’s the truth because as we were taking stock as of 3 am, Monday-Tuesday election, we took stock of over 76.

    “But as usual, human beings, we thought we are going to get a pullout of about 15, which we will have a comfortable 61 to win the election.

    “But it became the reverse, which only God knows what happened. So, I feel betrayed but life continues and it’s a cycle.”

     

  • Senate Presidency: Orji Kalu, other aggrieved senators petition APC Secretariat

    Senate Presidency: Orji Kalu, other aggrieved senators petition APC Secretariat

    Three aggrieved All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators have petitioned the party’s secretariat over the adoption of consensus candidates for the Senate Presidency of the 10th National Assembly.

    The senators included Sen. Abdulaziz Yari (APC-Zamfara), Sen. Sani Musa (APC-Niger), and Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu(APC-Abia).

    Presenting their greviances during the visit on Thursday in Abuja, Sen. Abdullazizi Yari, said that the fourth senator, Osita Izunaso couldn’t join the group on the visit due to unforeseen circumstances.

    “We are here to present our letter of grievances to you and also tell this honourable house as a leaders, that we are not satisfied with the arrangement.

    “What we are expecting from you people is to give us a fair play, at least if nothing, to mention that a particular position is zoned and anybody in that zone can’t participate,”Yari said.

    He added that the lawmakers had done their best to ensure that the party remained in power and deserved to be carried along in its decisions.

    Yari added that politics was all about dialogue and communication, saying that all sides should be given a fair hearing.

    Responding, the APC National Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, said the zoning of the Senate Presidency was done in concert with stakeholders and some Senators.

    Adamu, the APC National Chairman while welcoming the lawmakers, expressed satisfaction on their visit and decision to come open with their grievance.

    “As chairman of the APC and members of the NWC, we take responsibility, I take responsibility for what has gone on air, and in that spirit, I welcome you to this office on behalf of my colleagues.

    “Yes there was no sufficient or adequate consultations with you who are contesting and it is simple principle of democracy that you get views and opinions.

    “But the circumstances that we found ourselves in after the elections frustrated our desire,” Adamu said, adding that the party’s leadership would revisit the issue in the interest of all.

    While appealing to the lawmakers to be calm, the APC national chairman said Sen. Bola Tinubu’s contributions were critical on the issue of the 10th National Assembly.

    “Hold the fire until the last word is heard from us, we are the custodians of the party as NWC, but we are not acting alone.

    “The voice of Tinubu the President-elect is an essential voice. We must accommodate him, the best we can. I will not compromise on that.

    “He is right now outside the country and by the grace of God when he comes back we will go back to the drawing board and put ours heads together again and see what we will get.

    “I cannot preempt that, I will wait until we hold that meeting with the President-elect,” Adamu said

    He assured the lawmakers that the party’s leadership would go through your memo with a view to addressing issues contained in it.

    “Whatever you heard is the art of human endeavour and we are not perfect as human beings. We can make mistakes.

    “So, if we find in the course of further consultations the mistakes that need to be looked at, we will look at them. The important thing is that the spirit of the party must be kept alive.

    “Our eyes must stay on the ball but in doing so we must make sure justice will be done, we will do the best as human beings to deliver justice to all and sundry,” Adamu said.

  • Senate president: Rufai urges Yari to step down for Akpabio

    Senate president: Rufai urges Yari to step down for Akpabio

    The Vice President, Nigerian Ethnic Nationalities Youth Leaders Council, Balarabe Rufai, has called on Sen. Abdulazeel Yari to sheath his sword and accept the position of APC on Sen Godswill Akpabio as Senate President.

    Rufai who is also the immediate past National Co-ordinator of Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) made the call in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.

    He called on Yari to allow the  position of his party the All Progressives Congress (APC) and that of his President-elect to come into play and not seek to contest for the position.

    According to him, in view of the ongoing permutations and leadership tussle of the 10th National Assembly, particularly that of the Senate, a decision was taken on Saturday night at the instance of the President-elect.

    “The decison is  that Sen. GodsWill Akpabio should emerge as the Senate President while Sen. Barau Jibrin from Kano State should be his Deputy .

    “This was endorsed by the likes of Sen. Ali Ndume from Borno State, Sen. David Umahi of Ebonyi State, for equity,  fairness, and to balance the positions for national cohesion.

    “However, this  appeared not to go down well with Sen. AbdulAzeel Yari from Zamfara, who on media reports, insists on contesting for the Senate Presidency.”

    Rufai said that would not be good for the nation at the moment when  it needed unity and peace which the president elect  intended  to do for national healing and reconciliation.

    “In this regards, I call on His Excellency, Sen. AbdulAzeel Yari, to sheath his sword and allow the position of his party and that of his President-elect to come into play,” he said.

  • Court dismisses PDP suit seeking disqualification of Gov Matawalle, Yari, Marafa, others

    Court dismisses PDP suit seeking disqualification of Gov Matawalle, Yari, Marafa, others

    A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, dismissed a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s suit seeking the disqualification of Gov. Bello Matawalle of Zamfara and other All Progressives Congress (APC)’s candidates in the forthcoming general elections.

    Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment, dismissed the suit on the ground that it was incompetent and constituted an abuse of court process.

    PDP had, in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1622/2022, sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC, Matawalle and his deputy, Mohammed Gusau Hassan as 1st to 4th defendants respectively.

    The party also sued all the senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates in the state.

    Former governor Abdulaziz Yari, who is vying for the senatorial seat and ex-lawmaker, Kabir Marafa were joined as 5th and 7th defendants, among other 38th defendants listed in the originating summons.

    The PDP, in the motion, asked the court to determine whether the APC, which adopted the indirect mode of primaries for the selection and nomination of its choice of candidates shall democratically elect delegates to vote at its convention, congress, conference or meeting convened to nominate candidates for elections into any elective office.

    It said the question was upon a proper construction and interpretation of the combined provisions of Section 84 (1), (2), (5) & (8) of the Electoral Act, 2022 and other enabling laws in that behalf.

    The party, therefore, sought an order nullifying the purported sponsorship and/or nomination of the 3rd to 38th defendants by the APC (2nd defendant) to INEC for the 2023 general elections into the respective positions of the elective offices in Zamfara.

    It also sought an order of injunction restraining INEC from according to recognition to APC and all its candidates in the Feb. 25 and March 11 polls, among others.

    Delivering judgment, Justice Ekwo upheld all the preliminary objections raised by APC and its candidates.

    The judge agreed with the defence that the provision of Section 285 (14) (c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which the PDP relied on as giving them the locus standi (legal right) in the case did not avail them.

    According to him, this means there is no iota of law that supports this action.

    Justice Ekwo said he had also found that the plaintiff was not an aspirant in the APC primaries by virtue of Section 84(14) and 152 of the Electoral Act, 2022.

    The judge, who held that no law supported the filing of the case, said he found that the suit constituted an abuse of court process.

    He also agreed with the defence that the suit was statue barred, having been filed outside the 14 days of the cause of action as prescribed the law.

    Justice Ekwo, consequently, dismissed the suit.

  • National Convention: I’m still in APC Chairmanship race – Yari

    National Convention: I’m still in APC Chairmanship race – Yari

    Former Gov. Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara says he is still in the race for All Progressives Congress (APC), National Chairmanship, contrary to speculations that he has dropped from the race.

    Yari said this on Tuesday in Abuja when he spoke with newsmen shortly after a meeting with the APC Senate Caucus.

    Reacting to media reports that the party had already zoned the position to the North-Central, Yari said that he was not aware of any zoning arrangement.

    “I do not know anything about the issue of zoning because it was not communicated to me, I only saw it on social media.

    “I have picked form and we are ready to meet at the ballot,” he said.

    Yari, who frowned at zoning, said that members of the party were trying to break the jinx called zoning by embracing real democracy.

    Earlier while at the meeting with the caucus, Yari said he was at the Senate to solicit the support of the senators.

    “I am here to solicit for your support. I believe we have been working together and we can still work together,” he said.

    Yari said that the party needed people that were tested and trusted to handle its affairs.

    “We need people that are focused, determined and trusted in the past, with responsibilities and delivered their responsibilities.

    “It is not about where you are from, but what you have done in the past and what people think you can do,” he said.

    Speaking, Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, said that the APC was at a cross road.

    “That is a bad news. But the good news is that we are about to rebound from those challenges.The nearer we get to Saturday, the better the prospects and our hopes that all of those challenges will become a thing of the past.

    “All we seek in the National Assembly, is a strong and united APC that will come out of this convention and step forward to win the next elections.

    “We have an obligation as a party to disappoint our opponents, the PDP.

    “We want a leader that can speak truth to power, a leader that has the capacity to arrest and bring together every ego, a leader that can make us understand that collectively, we are bigger than our individual selves,” he said.

  • Court orders interim forfeiture of 10 property of ex-Zamfara gov, Yari

    Court orders interim forfeiture of 10 property of ex-Zamfara gov, Yari

    A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday, gave an interim order forfeiting 10 property of former Governor of Zamfara, Abdulaziz Yari, to the Federal Government.

    Justice Obiora Egwuatu gave the order following an ex-parte motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1342/2021 moved by counsel for the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Osuobeni Akponimisingha.

    Justice Egwuatu held that after carefully reading through the ICPC’s motion, exhibits attached and other processes, he was inclined to grant the order.

    He said that the court was empowered to grant the application going by the relevant sections of the law and the money laundering act.
    According to the judge, granting the application will not deny any one fair hearing.

    Egwuatu, who granted the order directed that the order should be published in the Nation and Daily Trust Newspapers.

    The judge said the interim order granted would last for 60 days to enable the ICPC to conclude its investigation, following which the commission could apply for final forfeiture.

    He ruled that any interested party affected by the order should file an application to show cause within 14 days why the property should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

    He adjourned the matter until April 28 to hear the motion for final forfeiture.

    Earlier, Akponimisingha informed the court that he had an application dated Nov. 2, 2021 and filed same day.

    “It is seeking for an order of interim forfeiture of the property listed on the motion paper,” he said.

    He said the motion was brought pursuant to Section 17(1),(2),(3), and (4) of The advanced Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006; Section 48(1),(2) and (3)(a) and (b) of the ICPC Act, among others.

    He said that he had filed a copy of the judgment of a sister court, presided over by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, delivered on Jan. 26, 2021, on the final forfeiture of some funds in Nigeria and foreign currencies linked to Yari as an exhibit before the court.

    He told the court that on May 27, 2019, two days to the former governor’s handing over power, about N350 million naira was paid from Zamfara government coffers to his personal account and that on May 28, 2019, Yari moved the money from his account to EFAB Properties account.

    The lawyer said on May 29, 2019, EFAB Properties issued a receipt to Yari to indicate that the former governor paid the money to acquire 10 units of four bedroom detached duplexes at EFAB Estate, Mbora and 15 units of three bedrooms at EFAB Estate, Lokogoma in Abuja.

    He said though the owner of EFAB Properties denied that Yari paid for the property, the receipt issued on May 29, 2019, for the part payment of the property was also attached as an exhibit before the court.

    Besides, Akponimisingha said that Yari also awarded a N4.8 billion contract to Syndicate and Commercial Company Ltd, a company also owned by EFAB Properties, on May 16, 2019, for the construction of some roads in Zamfara.

    He said the ex-governor also awarded another N5 billion contract to the same company.

    He said though the former governor filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit with an ex-parte application restraining ICPC from tampering with

    the property, a sister court, presided over by Justice Inyang Ekwo had discharged the restraining order.

    “We want him (Yari) to come and explain to court how he came about the property,” he said.

    NAN reports that other property affected by the order include Plot 3281, Maitama (AQ96), Abuja; Plot 1308, Maitama (A@S), Abuja and seven bedroom duplex at Nwora Close, Maitama, Abuja.

    It also include four bedroom duplex at Justice Fatai Williams, Asokoro, Abuja; two bedroom compound at Talata Marafa, Zamfara; seven bedroom duplex at Owena Close, Yederam, Maitama, Abuja; seven bedroom at No 14806, Bowie Firm Cort, Maryland, United States of America and FIRM CORT, MARYLAND, USA. 106 bedrooms at Kinkino Crescent, Kaduna.

  • APC National Convention: My party membership card is valid, intact- Ex Gov Yari

    APC National Convention: My party membership card is valid, intact- Ex Gov Yari

    Sen Abdulaziz Yari, a former two-term governor of Zamfara and a frontline All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairmanship aspirant says his party membership card is still valid.
    Yari was reacting to reports in the social media that he did not have a valid party membership card in a statement issued by Alhaji Abdullahi Tsare, his Chief of Staff on Thursday in Abuja.
    According to him, my APC party membership card is valid and intact.
    “Ordinarily, I would not like to join issues, but for the consumption of our great party members and the general public, I have to set the records straight.
    “For the avoidance of doubt, His Excellency Abdulaziz Yari is a party man to the core with great qualifications at his disposal; he is a registered member of the APC with his membership Card obtained by him.
    “He is the only known chairmanship aspirant coming from Zamfara in particular, and the North-West geo-political zone.
    “The party and general public should disregard any noisemaker claiming to be an aspirant under the umbrella of APC,” he said.
    Tsare said those alleging that Yari did not have a valid party membership card were “nuisance and disgruntled elements working for their paymasters who could not face Yari one on one”.
    He wondered where such persons were when Yari contested elections from a state party secretary to the exalted office of a governor of the state for two terms.
    He, therefore, urged the public to ignore the report, describing it as “a chanting of an errand boy who will stop at nothing than to cause confusion in the public”.
    Tsare said the intention of those peddling the report was to mislead his teeming supporters and to further attract large sums from their paymasters.
    “If not, why should anybody explain to the public that someone who was a governor for two terms, did not have membership registration card of the party he worked so tirelessly to form.
    “His Excellency Abdulaziz Yari has paid his dues in the party and he is a well-known financier of the APC. He will continue to do his best until the party attains victory.
    “Yari, being a tested administrator, is committed to ensure that the party’s principles are adhered to strictly, beginning from how the secretariat will be run. The party will certainly take centre stage,” he said.
    Tsare added that with his political experience and network, Yari was committed to deploying his skills to draw influential persons into the party and close ranks with existing leaders within its fold for its overall progress.
    He further added that Yari had done so much to build the APC and was still doing more to uplift the party to greater heights.
    He urged the Gov. Mai Mala Buni- led APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) to be more circumspect in its dealings with some of those aspiring to be the party’s national chairman.
    The spokesperson added that well meaning party members were expected to preach peace and unity at this critical period of the party’s history.
    According to him, all faithful members of the party should be committed to ensuring peace and unity within its fold with a view to going into the 2023 general elections as a united front.
    “It is therefore not a period for self-destruction and internal bickering and rumour-mongering among party members.
    “The APC is a party of disciplined people with high sense of patriotism, and therefore Abdulaziz Yari will not in any way share issues,” Tsare said.
  • Ex-Zamfara Gov, Yari, former senator Marafa break silence on dumping APC for PDP after meeting with Saraki

    Ex-Zamfara Gov, Yari, former senator Marafa break silence on dumping APC for PDP after meeting with Saraki

    Immediate past Governor of Zamfara State, Abdul’aziz Yari, and a former senator from the state, Kabiru Marafa, have denied media reports that they have quit the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The report had cited a meeting of the two men with former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, at a wedding in Kaduna on Friday.

    But Ibrahim Muhammad, a media aide to Mr Yari and former Zamfara Commissioner of Information in a swift response on Saturday said the report was false.

    Muhammad claimed the report was orchestrated by political enemies of his principal.

    Also Marafa denied the report through a statement, describing it as “the wishful thinking of minions who are intimidated by our continued presence in the APC.”

    Marafa noted that reports on social media claimed that he and ex Governor Yari were joining the PDP following the intervention of erstwhile Senate President Saraki.

    He said: “it is our constitutional right to meet, attend, discuss, fly, drive with anybody we wish. Yes, we flew to Kaduna with Saraki to attend Sheik Bala Lau daughter’s wedding. Is that a crime?

    “When the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, attended the wedding Fatiha of Yusuf Buhari in Bichi, did that amount to decamping to APC?

    “We were senior architects, engineers and planners in the project team that designed, built and maintained APC from inception to date; so it will be irrational for anybody to think maltreatment, injustice or wicked rumours will make us abandon our project to some overambitious members,” Marafa said.

  • Ex-Gov Yari denies forfeiting assets to FG

    Ex-Gov Yari denies forfeiting assets to FG

    Former Governor of Zamfara State Abdulaziz Yari has refuted news reports that he has finally forfeited money to the Federal Government.
    A statement by his spokesperson, Mayowa Oluwabiyi on Thursday said although Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had ruled that Yari should forfeit $669,248 and N24.3 million to the government, the court gave him 14 days to show cause why he should not forfeit the money.
    According to the statement, the former governor had no reason to fear because he declared all the companies and businesses he had to the Code of Conduct Bureau on assumption of office.
    The statement further said that the CCB had cleared all the businesses.
    The statement added that the ex-governor’s legal team has already begun the process of appealing the judgement at the court of appeal. The spokesperson further enjoined members of the public to await the final determination of the case which she is optimistic will vindicate the former governor.