Governor Yari: I Have Forgiven APC Of Their Sins

Gov. Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara says he has forgiven the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the unfair treatment it meted out to the state chapter of the party.

Yari, who spoke after leading the Zamfara
APC governorship candidate, Mukhtar Idris, to a private meeting with
President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday,
said the court had vindicated Zamfara APC.

He said that the party
was not fair to the Zamfara state chapter over the controversy that
surrounded the state governorship primary election.

The Zamfara State High Court 3 sitting in Gusau on Friday upheld the primary election conducted by the state chapter of APC.

The
state APC chapter had on Oct. 11, 2018, filed a case before the court
praying it to compel the APC national headquarters and the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept the primary election it
conducted on Oct. 7, 2018.

The national headquarters of the APC had earlier declared that there was no primary election of the party in the state.

“Some
other people are saying that the reign of Yerima and Abdulaziz for 20
years is over in Zamfara State but I believe Almighty God to give power
to whomsoever he desires to give and he promised to sustain the power as
long you uphold justice.

“I use this opportunity to call on the
party; the crisis didn’t die at the party level. I can say the party has
not done justice to us, but we have forgiven it; in a democracy, there
is a process.

“Section 87, 1 to 14 of the Electoral Act is very
clear on what should be done; so, in our case, we were denied many
things but as I said earlier, we have forgiven and we are going to
continue.

“You remember, from October, 2018, we have been
struggling on whether there is primary or no primary in Zamfara State by
INEC and we believe we have undergone all the processes.

“Today,
God did it once again for us by giving us victory—the court accepted
that Zamfara State APC has conducted its primaries based on the evidence
presented before that court.”

The governor said that Zamfara
people were happy with the judgment and would vote massively for APC in
the forthcoming elections.

He also commended INEC, in spite of
what he described as conflicting statements from the commission’s
national office and its Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC).

“The
state REC went around and supervised as allowed by the law.
Unfortunately, the INEC headquarters did not wait to receive the report
by the REC there and it went ahead with a pronouncement.

“Anyway,
we secured the certified true copy and presented before the court and I
think it is the document that supported the court in its process to
pass the judgment in our favour,” he said.

Yari said that Zamfara
State was 100 per cent APC and would deliver, adding that the
opposition knew it stood no chance in the state.