APC Fails To Hold Primaries In Zamfara, May Not Field Candidates In 2019

Except the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) extends the date for conduct of primaries into various offices, the All Progressives Congress (APC) may not field candidates in the 2019 general elections.

This is as a result of crisis in the Zamfara state chapter of the party which has led to no primaries to elect candidates for various offices into the governorship, national and state assembly.

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Over the weekend, Governor Abdulaziz Yari, who is also the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, held an unauthorized primary election with his some of his loyalists where his anointed candidate, Mukhtar Idris, the state finance commissioner, was announced as winner.

Before the weekend show, the national secretariat of the APC had cancelled all the primaries conducted in the state owing to violence.

To avoid further crisis and provide level playing field, the national working committee of the party dissolved the state executive committee and set up a new panel to conduct fresh primaries.

A move that was resisted by Yari who accused Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the party, of working against the interest of the state.

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“We heard that the committee of the chairman is not in consultation with any working committee. He (Oshiomhole) is trying to be a kind of mini-god…The committee he sent to Zamfara state, I want to say it categorically, they should never step into Zamfara for one minute,” he had said while addressing his supporters on Saturday.

“I, Abdulaziz Yari, governor of Zamfara state, head of government and security, I am saying that the committee sent by Oshiomhole to come and do a dirty job should not dare come into Zamfara state.

“We are ready, including myself, to be taken to the graveyard tomorrow… it’s fight to finish.”

However, the panel visited the state on Sunday but supporters of the governor and Senator Kabir Marafa, a governorship aspirant, clashed so elections could not hold.

Gana Mohammed, chairman of the panel, said the materials that were supposed to be used for the elections were still intact.

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“A question was asked whether or not the committee that came from Abuja conducted an election in Zamfara state. We did not. We still have our materials and we hope to present our report to the headquarters in Abuja,” he said.

“I and members of my committee still have all our election materials with us.”

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