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MAIHARAJI ALTINE examines the political battle ahead of the ruling People’s Democratic Party and the opposition All Progressives Congress in Zamfara State as both parties prepare for the 2023 general elections
Senator Kabiru Marafa and several other party chieftains in the state joined forces to resist the move, a situation that led to several botched attempts to hold a primary in line with the party’s constitution. In a bid to assert its authority, the APC national headquarters banned members of the Marafa-led faction and sent another committee to conduct a fresh primary election.
Yari and his supporters went ahead with the exercise and the factional chairman of the state APC Chairman, Alhaji Lawal Liman, subsequently forwarded a list of candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission, some hours to the expiration of the deadline.After losing the case in the Gusau High Court, they won the case at the Appeal Court in Sokoto, which agreed with Marafa’s lawyers that the APC had no candidates because a proper primary was not conducted.
To consolidate the truce, the APC leaders summoned an emergency meeting in Kaduna State to strategise on how to reclaim the state in 2023. The two political parties are now on their toes and ready to do battle. The first elected civilian governor of the state, Senator Ahmed Sani, is said to be preparing a soft landing for Matawalle to defect to the APC. But the governor has denied the rumour that he would leave the PDPon the level of their preparedness for the 2023 general elections, the state PDP Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Faruku Ahmed, stated, “The APC is dead in Zamfara State and has since been buried.
“Other important areas worthy of mention include human development and implementation of people-oriented projects. The governor has also invested heavily in the education sector where he was able to rehabilitate and construct many schools. He was able to settle all NECO and WAEC fees that were not paid by the former governor. In fact, there are many achievements and improvements in the state.”In response, the state APC chapter spokesperson, Abdulmalik Bungudu, said, “Zamfara is an APC state.
“The governor places more interest in the welfare of bandits than the villagers who are always at the receiving end. Bandits could attack a village and kidnap the villagers without the security agents checking them. But by the time the villagers defended themselves and luckily killed a bandit, the whole community would be in trouble because they would be arrested and quizzed for allegedly taking law into their own hands.
According to him, while it is a fact that banditry was inherited from the previous administration, the people of the state expected the governor to deal with it as quickly as possible.According to a political analyst in the state, Dr Anas Anka, the APC has bright chances in future election. “Lastly, there is clear demonstration of incompetence in terms of those managing the political administration of the present PDP-led government in the state when compared with the past APC government and this tells more about the crisis within the present government’’.