…insists no amount of pressure will make him leave APC
Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, on Friday said that he has been under intense pressure to defect from the All Progressives Congress (APC) with his supporters.
Yari, who is the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja.
He also handed over the results of the primaries conducted in the state to the President after the Jumaat prayer.
He promised that despite the pressure from his people to dump the APC, he will remain with the party and fight against any injustice.
According to him, his supporters were aggrieved over the turn out of events following the party leadership’s refusal to acknowledge the primaries conducted last week in the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had also barred the APC from fielding any candidates for the 2019 poll in Zamfara for not conducting primary elections in the state.
He explained that the development has caused frustration among his supporters.
The governor also warned the national leadership of the party not to present any list that did not emanate from the primaries conducted before the expiration of the deadline for the primaries in the state.
Reacting to reports of his purported romance with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party on the social media, Yari, who was flanked by the Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, said, “I don’t know whether that is a joke or otherwise.
“But for me, if you check my history since 1998, APP, and 2002 when Buhari joined ANPP, and 2015 APC, no time that I shifted from one party to another. That is not in my culture. So, the issue of leaving the party is not true.
“But some other people are sending rumour through the social media. I have seen my picture with the PDP and other parties. Yes, I cannot deny pressure from the people that we should leave APC but what I told them is that what we are looking for is just justice.
“We conducted election and we want to see what the result is going to look. But I think for any body to come under the national secretariat and say he is going to nominate a candidate, I think, it is a very huge joke.” he said
The Zamfara State Governor wondered why the INEC could claim that there were no primaries in the state when the government agencies including the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the electoral umpire was at hand to monitor the process in the state.
He said though there were some hitches in some places in the state that made the committee to postpone primary elections in the affected areas, the process he said was concluded the next day.
He said, “There were hitches somewhere but we decided to suspend the area there were problems until the following day. So, the following day, we continued and we concluded the election by the people nominated by that committee to conduct election but the committee ran away and refused to collate the results.
“So, what we did was that we filed the results and kept it under the watch of those people and waited to see what was going to happen. The second committee waited 32 hours to the closing, we thought the committee will hasten and come up with modalities for the election.
“But committee wasted about 18 hours discussing about how the modalities were going to be. So, when we realised that, we were actually advised by the supervisory agency that is INEC and other agencies there that the best thing to do as the people had voted and since it was 7am was to start counting.
“When they finished, they released the materials and we adopted the numbers. Already, we had produced our own set of forms for the national Assembly which we have done and then, when we concluded, I didn’t see members of the committee until one and half hours to the time.
“Then, when they came I asked them what they came for, they said they came for reconciliation and I said which reconciliation? People can not reconcile over a month and you are trying to reconcile in an hour. Then, I realised that there was a game that was being played so that we can run out of time.” he said
According to him, the national body of APC had other crude ways to produce candidates contrary to section 87 of the Electoral Act that the party must follow a process before producing any candidate.
“Therefore, the most important is that we conducted election on the 3rd and 4th of October and all agencies, INEC, Civil Defence, Police, and DSS were there and they signed for us and the report was written by the REC that elections were conducted.
“Unfortunately, for the INEC to say that there was no election, we don’t know where they got their information but we believe they have a report directly from their representative there that election was held in Zamfara state, so, it depends on what they want to do.
“But, in any way, we were advised when the chairman of the committee came out and said there was no election in Zamfara state, we realised it was going to be a litigation issue. We quickly rushed to court, we filed a case and the case is coming up next week.
“So, I think that is the only saving grace for the party and INEC for court of competent jurisdiction to give judgement on Zamfara matter that there was election.” he stated.
Tag: Zamfara
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Zamfara APC crisis: Yari hints on defection plans after controversial primaries
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Buhari meets Governors Ganduje, Amosun, Yari in Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari again on Friday met with three state governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The President’s Personal Assistant on New Media, Bashir Ahmad, disclosed this on his Twitter handle, @BashirAhmaad.
Ahmad listed the governors who met with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to include Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) and Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara).
“President Muhammadu Buhari this afternoon, met with Governors of Kano, Ogun and Zamfara States at the Presidential Villa, Abuja,” he wrote.
Although the president’s aide did not disclose the purpose of the meeting, it is believed to be part of ongoing efforts to resolve the post-primaries crises that erupted in the ruling party in some states.
Details later… -
2019: Oshiomhole dares INEC, insists APC will field candidates for elections in Zamfara
The ruling All Progressives Congress has faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission’s declaration that the party was ineligible to present candidates for the Governorship and National Assembly elections in Zamfara State, on the basis that primary elections were not held.
National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, in a letter to the INEC which he signed in Abuja, on Wednesday, said the electoral management body acted in error by basing its decision to bar the APC from presenting candidates on a false premise.
Oshiomhole said contrary to INEC claims, primaries were held in the state and candidates emerged. The APC insisted that it would present candidates for the 2019 governorship and national assembly elections and it would do so before the expiration of the INEC date for the submission of names of candidates.
Recall that INEC had in a letter written to the APC declared that the APC was ineligible to present candidates for the 2019 elections in Zamfara State.
Read Oshiomhole’s letter below:
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APC consulting lawyers over INEC’s disqualification of its candidates in Zamfara
The All Progressives Congress (APC) is consulting its lawyers over the directive from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that it should not field candidates for the 2019 elections.
The commission had barred the ruling party from the elections over its failure to comply with the October 7 deadline for conducting primaries.
Internal crisis had prevented the Zamfara APC primaries from holding.
In a letter to Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the ruling party, INEC said the APC is not eligible to partake in the 2019 elections in Zamfara.
The letter signed by Okechukwu Ndeche, the commission’s acting secretary read: “Failure to Conduct Primaries in Zamfara State Within the Stipulated Time-frame. Please, refer to the timetable and schedule of activities for the 2019 general elections released by the commission on January 9 2018.
“You would note that from the timetable the conduct of primaries is scheduled to take place between August 18 to October 7 2018.
“However, report received from our office in Zamfara state shows that no primaries were conducted by your party in Zamfara, notwithstanding that our officials were fully mobilised and deployed.
“Consequently, based on the provision of Section 87 and 31 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, the commission does not expect that your party will submit names of any candidate from Zamfara state.”
But NAN quoted a source in the APC national secretariat as saying the party leadership had decided to contact its legal department before responding to the letter.
The leadership of the APC had tried to resolve the Zamfara logjam by inaugurating a new committee which attempted to conduct the governorship and legislative primaries in the state between October 6 and October 7 but the panel failed to conduct the elections because of the threats by Abdulaziz Yari, governor of the state, to call out supporters in protest. -
NAF wipes out notorious armed bandits hideouts
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says the Air Task Force of “ Operation Diran Mikiya’’ has successfully degraded several notorious armed bandits hideouts in Shamashale village and Rugu forest in Zamfara.
Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
“The attacks, which were executed in support of ground troops in Sector 2 of Operation `Sharan Daji’, were planned based on credible intelligence that the kingpin and his group of armed bandits were using an abandoned primary school in Shamashale.’’ he said.
He said that the bandits also used some makeshift settlements in nearby Rugu forest in the Eastern part of Zamfara as bases for their operations.
Daramola explained that the attack at Shamashale was conducted on Aug. 15 following further confirmatory Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions that revealed the presence of several armed bandits in the area.
“Accordingly, the ATF dispatched two combat helicopters to attack the location. During the attack, some bandits carrying sophisticated high calibre weapons were seen trying to flee the area.
“Some were on motorcycles carrying AK-47 rifles and, rather than dropping their weapons and surrendering, attempted to shoot at the helicopters; hence they were neutralised.
“Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) conducted on Aug.16 confirmed that the kingpin’s main hideout had been severely degraded and human intelligence sources later availed pictures of some of the slain bandits”, he said.
Daramola said that items recovered from the armed bandits include two General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs), two AK 47 rifles, 100 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and two mobile phones.
“The adjoining settlement camps within Rugu Forest, which had earlier been confirmed by HUMINT sources to be inhabited by only bandits, were attacked on Aug.18.
“A ground attack aircraft and two combat helicopters struck the camps in successive waves; first targeting the shelters and then executing follow-on attacks to ensure the threat posed to the local villagers was adequately dealt with.
“The ATF would continue to dominate the area through armed reconnaissance and air interdiction missions to completely decimate the armed bandits in order to ensure a return to normalcy in Zamfara and other States in the North West,” he said.
The NAF spokesman advised all persons involved in armed banditry in the area to renounce violence, surrender to security agencies and hand over their weapons.
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Seventh year anniversary: Osinbajo visits Zamfara Tuesday
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is to visit Zamfara on Tuesday to inaugurate some projects, Alhaji Lawal Liman, the Chairman, state government’s 7th-anniversary committee, has said.
Liman made this known on Friday while inspecting some of the projects to be inaugurated in Talata-Mafara and Bakura local government areas as part of activities to celebrate the 7th anniversary of Gov. Abdul’aziz Yari’s administration.
Liman, who is also the state Chairman, All Progressive Congress (APC), said that the projects to be inaugurated included Government Girls College, Talata-Mafara, Talata-Mafara Bypass road and Abubakar Tinau Special Primary School, Mafara.
Others are the Semi-Urban Water Project in Gamji town and the renovated General Hospital, Bakura.
According to him, over 100 completed projects have been listed to be inaugurated between and November to celebrate the anniversary.
Liman said that President Muhammadu Buhari was also expected to visit the state in September to inaugurate some projects.
He urged the benefitting communities to assist government in maintaining the projects.
The committee also inspected the 61-km Kaura/Namoda-Birnin/Magaji-Dauran Road and the Birnin-Magaji General Hospital still under construction.
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Troops kill 20 bandits, set captives free in Zamfara
The Nigerian military conducting Operation Sharan Daji to flush out bandits in Zamfara, on Saturday said it had neutralised 20 bandits and freed their captives in Zamfara.
The Force Information Officer of the operation, Col. Muhammad Dole, disclosed this in a statement in Kaduna.
“In continuation of the ongoing Operation SHARAN DAJI, the troops conducted several raids and ambush operations in major identified camps and routes in Maradun, Tsafe and Zurmi Local Government Areas of Zamfara State.”
He said during the encounter at DABAN- DOKA village near Dansadau, troops laid an ambush for bandits’ identified routes where 20 bandits were neutralised.
“Some bandits escaped with gunshot wounds and several motorcycles were burnt.
“In one of the troops encounter with the bandits, two notorious bandits, Bello Danboko and Sani Maza, were eliminated in Yanwari ward near Yankuzo and Mai Tukunya villages near Dansadau all in Zamfara.”
According to him, during recent clearance operation along Mashema, Kwadi, kalage, Gambiru and Kagara axis, heavy fight ensued between troops and bandits.
However, due to the overwhelming military firepower, a reasonable number of the bandits were neutralised and their camps were set ablaze.
This successful feat has created relative peace and spurred massive returns of Internally Displaced Persons to their villages in Zurmi Local Govt Area.
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NAF commences free medical, surgical services to IDPs in Zamfara
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has commenced free medical and surgical services to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara.
Group Capt. Azubuike Chukwuka, the Director, Public Health and Humanitarian Services, Medical Services of the Nigerian Air Force, said at the launch of the programme in Marafa Umaru Primary School IDPs camp in Shinkafi on Friday.
He said that the outreach was targeting 4,000 beneficiaries and 120 surgeries, explaining that the gesture was one of social and community service programmes of NAF.
He added that “due to insecurity issues in Zamfara, the Defence Headquarters embarked on Operation Sharandaji, as a result, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadeeque Abubakar, directed the deployment of Air Force troops to the area.
“It is our tradition wherever we are operating, we provide social and medical outreach to the host communities, that is why we are carrying out this exercise.
“The aim of this intervention is to alleviate the sufferings of the people.
“Our medical team has already been deployed and has started treating people with various health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, typhoid, malaria and eye problems.”
He thanked the Shinkafi Local Government Council and the community for the support given them.
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Lawal Liman, thanked NAF for the gesture and described it as timely.
He urged displaced persons who had to leave their areas due to bandits’ attacks to remain calm, saying that the state government in collaboration with security agencies was making efforts to end the crisis.
He lauded the Federal Government for deploying troops to the state and urged the people to cooperate with the medical team for the success of the exercise.
The Chairman of Shinkafi, Alhaji Sani Galadi, assured the medical team of the council’s support for successful exercise.
So many people were displaced from their various communities in the three local government areas of Maradun, Shinkafi and Zurmi in Zamfara, following series of attacks by bandits.
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371 killed in Zamfara since January 2018 – AI
Amnesty International (AI) said at least 371 people were killed since January 2018 and dozens of villages sacked in Zamfara State, as armed bandits hold sway in the state.
A statement yesterday by the Nigeria spokesman of AI, Isa Sanusi said insecurity was escalating in Zamfara State, with daily killings and kidnappings by armed bandits leaving villagers in constant fear of attacks.
He said thousands of people have been displaced by a conflict, which began in 2012 as a result of clashes between farmers and herders.
Sanusi quoted the Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Osai Ojigho as saying, “This is Nigeria’s forgotten conflict. The authorities’ failure to act has left villagers in Zamfara at the mercy of armed bandits, who have killed hundreds of people over the course of two bloody years.
“When we visited the region, villagers told us that they had pleaded with the government to help them after receiving warning letters from the bandits ahead of attacks but had received no protection.
“The Nigerian authorities have repeatedly claimed to be tackling the situation, but the mounting death toll tells a different story,” Ojigho said.
AI said on Friday July 27, 18 villages in the Mashema, Kwashabawa and Birane districts of Zurmi local government area of Zamfara state were attacked, leaving at least 42 people dead.
At least 18,000 residents of the affected villages, who were displaced over the weekend were taking refuge at various locations in the local government headquarters, the following day a further 15 people were kidnapped in Maradun local government area.
He said “Previous military interventions have failed to end the killings, especially in rural areas of Zamfara.”
He said at least 238 of the killings took place after the deployment of the Nigerian Air Force.
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Killings: Buhari orders deployment of 1,000 troops to Zamfara
The Federal Government has assembled a 1,000-strong military force, comprising the army, air force, police and the civil defence, to launch attacks on the bandits terrorising the villages and towns of Zamfara State.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists on Sunday.
Shehu said following President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive, the Nigerian Air Force has begun the deployment of fighter aircraft to Katsina, the airport with the closest proximity to Zamfara State to make for immediate and effective response to the menace of the bandits.
This, he said, had not been possible in the past because there was no fuel depot facility in Katsina.
The presidential spokesman said NAF had now devised a way around the problem.
He added, “The President has also authorised the engagement by NAF, of advanced satellite surveillance technology to help in accurate detection of movement and locations of the bandits.
“The government had to go to this extent because of the limitations of conventional surveillance, as the use of satellite technology could make the task of NAF less problematic.
“Following directives from the President, at the weekend, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadiq Abubakar, was in Gusau where he met the Deputy Governor of the state.
“The Chief of Air Staff reiterated the President’s pledge that he would never abandon the victims of attacks to their fate, reaffirming that security remains one of the cardinal pillars of his campaign promises and no leader would be happy to see his own citizens killed by criminal groups across the country.”
Shehu recalled that since his election, the President had kept faith with his promises to re-equip and motivate the country’s military and other security services.
The army and other security services, he said, were now better equipped and motivated to face the challenges of their responsibilities.