Senator Kabiru Marafa, in this interview with State House correspondents, speaks on insinuations that he is a spoiler in the crisis rocking the APC in Zamfara State. JONATHAN NDA-ISAIAH was there for LEADERSHIP Friday.
Where are we heading with the Appeal Court ruling on Zamfara APC primaries?
I think I don’t need to comment further on what you said. Just look at your first statement, you said the primaries conducted by the governor. Are governors supposed to conduct primaries?
But the lower court upheld the primaries earlier?
That was then, the question he asked is the Appeal Court has quashed that decision. It is no longer there. You don’t discuss what is not there.
How does it benefit the parties involved in this crisis?
Is politics all about personal benefits? The answer is no. Is it about me? The answer is no. Is it about Yari? The answer is no. It is about the people of Zamfara State. If Zamfara people stand to benefit from that ruling, glory be to God. If Zamfara people are going to lose from that ruling, may God reverse it.
What’s the way forward now?
Well, there is still one last option left. It depends on what our opponents feel. There is the Supreme Court option. If they are desirous of exploring that, they are constitutionally, legally allowed to do so. If they are not, so be it. Before, they were dragging us, but we are now dragging them. We are not pleading with them not to go to the Supreme Court. The most important thing that Nigerians need to know is that we are not the aggressors as far as these problems are concerned. We are defending ourselves, defending the people of Zamfara State. There was never a day the aggressors called us for a meeting or anything that we said no. So, the issue like I said, is not about Marafa. If it is about Marafa, maybe I would have been a Senator-elect by now. The issue is about Zamfara State, it is about the lives and properties being lost day in, day out. The issue is about the comfort of the ordinary man, who doesn’t depend on the government for anything. All he needs is for him to sleep well, go to farm in the morning and come back home to meet his family.
Are you not playing the role of a spoiler and should have let everything go since the national leadership of the APC endorsed the primaries?
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Is the national leadership of the APC equal to Nigeria? The answer is no. We are talking about the laws of Nigeria and not talking about personalities. No matter how big you are, you cannot circumvent the law. You cannot break the law by your right hand and then use your left hand to say you want to amend it. You cannot commit a criminality then you will approach the court and say ‘court legalise it for me’. You cannot commit criminality and then hide under the umbrella of party and now say that ‘because the party is going to lose’. Who is a party? The people has the party. It is not the Prince in Zamfara, it is not the stones, it is not the land, it is not the roads, it is not the wells or anything in Zamfara State, it is the people of Zamfara State that have the party. So, if the people are disenfranchised, if the people are cheated, we all have a duty to rise up above party lines. Afterall, I came to this Senate as an ANPP member. Ttoday I’m APC. Most of the people you see today talking as APC, they were something else before. So, it’s not about APC for God’s sake. the national chairman of this party was seen condemning and saying that primaries are not supposed to be conducted by state governors, or by state party chairmen. You can’t just change overnight. I’m trying to speak the truth, even against myself. And that is exactly what I did when it happened.
Supposing they go to the Supreme Court, do you think the decision of the Appeal Court will be upheld?
Well, there is this thing I always say, some people who didn’t understand faulted me. I’m a Muslim and in my Qur’an, Allah said Himself that He forbids injustice to Himself. Then He said He forbids injustice amongst us, His creations. So, it is a promise that God will never help injustice against justice. I’m sure most of you here are being paid at the end of the month, not at the beginning of the month. So at the end of the whole of this thing, truth will prevail, undoubtedly. No fear about that. The truth is there was no primaries in Zamfara, the world knows, Allah knows, the angel knows, everybody knows.
So, even if somebody tries to paint it somehow, somebody will come, a good man will come and restore back the original paint. And the original paint is white. The white is the truth, the truth is that there was no primaries and the Court of Appeal has just done justice to that. And I want to use this opportunity to thank the President of the Court of Appeal for an excellent job she did. You know, we were quite apprehensive from the beginning, fearing that we might not get justice. But they have done justice to that case and they have made judiciary proud and the people of Nigeria proud. If that has not been done, I was afraid where we were heading to.
I read their judgement and I was really very proud of the way it was written. That is how judgements are written, not the way the Zamfara High Court judgement was written. Unfortunately, he has put all of us, people from Zamfara to shame. Because people are mocking us, asking ‘Is this the Sharia you people are professing?’ And that is the most unfortunate thing, we claim to be ahead, and you know if you are ahead, you must assume responsibility and leadership. And what he did was, to say the least, quite disgraceful, quite shameful, whatever his reasons are. But, I pray, may God forgive him for what he has done, because to us, God has paid back us immensely.
