The Senator Kabiru Marafa faction of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC in Zamfara state has accused the Gov. Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee CECPC of the party of presenting certificates of return to some selected chairpersons of state chapters of the party.
Spokesperson to the Senator Marafa-led faction, Hon. Bello Bakyasuwa Maradun in a statement Friday evening in Abuja said “the saying that ‘the wages of sin is death’ applies perfectly” to the action of the CECPC.
The Buni-led committee has sworn in 34 state chairmen and that of the Federal Capital Territory FCT. In Zamfara, the CECPC swore in Alh. Tukur Umar Danfulani, chairman of the faction led by the state governor, Bello Matawalle.
However, Marafa in the statement said; “As one of the many factions across the country with legitimate grounds for agitation, the Senator Marafa-led faction of APC in Zamfara State sees this action as desperate and negates all principles of strategic thinking for building an enduring party that can weather the storm of 2023 as President Buhari rightly warned.
“In a nutshell, the Senator Marafa faction of APC in Zamfara State considers the inauguration as one of those rights of the government faction to act madly and illegally as we vest our confidence in the legal process with the cases in courts instituted. Our faction followed due process in conducting congresses at all levels that led to the emergence of a complete structure with Hon. Sirajo Garba Maikatako as a State Chairman. We also went to the court to contest the legality of the Congresses conducted by the government faction because of the breaches associated with them including the questionable stand of their party membership and relevant notice enshrined in the APC constitution. Until the court decides on this, we consider the government faction as illegal and sustain loyalty to our legitimate factional structure. Henceforth, we will continue to enjoy watching this act of madness.We noted with interest how the certificate presentation event was conducted under fears and jitters with heavy deployment of police all-round the secretariat in a typical way of political coup plotters under a democracy. The brief way the event was conducted and the absence of the CECPC Chairman although physically within the Secretariat as well as the uncertainty between inauguration and certificate presentation were all indicators of fear arising from inherent guilt of the Committee and the impotence of its action. Certificate presentation at Party level in the way conducted by the Committee is a new thing within the political space of Nigeria and an indication of the confusion characterising the Party leadership. It is instructive to note that certificates presented by INEC as a government institution in charge of election were withdrawn when courts decided against their presentation.
“In the same direction, we observed the infectious trend of insanity spreading to other levels through a video recording of Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State urging his factional group to ensure that no other APC offices exists in the state from the certificate presentation charade. For us, this is a big illusion as it is practically impossible for our hundreds of offices across the state, local governments and wards to be closed out of the Governor’s empty threat.
Any attempt to use state resources to enforce that nightmare will be overwhelmed by the number and forces of the two major factions of APC in the state. In our view, Governor Matawalle of Zamfara State should be at the forefront of respecting matters before the court of law because he is one of its products as a Governor.
Unfortunately, his statements betray this expectation. Also, before making that statement, the Governor should have reminded himself that, only last week, the Vice Chairman of his faction of APC for Central Zone with decamped with hundreds of others to one of the major factions of the Party including a courtesy visit to Senator Marafa during the intra-party loyalty switch.
“For us, the action of APC CEPCC on the certificate presentation and the follow up action of people like that of Governor Matawalle of Zamfara State are good justification to the statement that “those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad”, the statement added
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