UMAR MOHAMMED captures the intriguing misadventure of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State which culminated in the removal of its candidates in the just concluded general elections that held in the state.
While other state chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that fielded candidates in the last general elections have moved on, regardless of whether they won or not, the Zamfara chapter of the party still wallows in the misery of electoral uncertainty.
The celebration of APC’s electoral victory in all positions it contested in Zamfara State last as long as the Appeal Court judgement in Sokoto State which declared that the party didn’t have candidates for the elections it won.
But this irony was long foretold. The political activities leading to the build up to the 2019 general election were strange to the people of Zamfara State. They had never experienced such political cacophony within a ruling party in the state.
It was unlike what happened in the preceding year to the 2015 general election, when the faithful of the two dominant political parties, APC and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were busy promoting their potential governorship aspirants.
Then, the intensity of the campaign within the APC had culminated in a member of the House of Representatives, Representing Gusau/Tsafe federal constituency Hon. Ibrahim Shehu Bakauye challenged a sitting Governor, Hon Abdul-Aziz Yari who was then seeking for second term.
The situation raised serious dust in the party and almost divided the party members into two factions.
The situation was also similar in the opposition PDP as the two powerful contenders, a former governor, Alhaji Muhmuda Aliyu Shinkafi and Hon. Bello Mohammed Mattawalle of the House of Representatives.
But the scenario in 2019 was far more intense in the APC, no thanks to a number of factors top of which were that some aspirants were bent on stopping the governor from putting his stooge in office and the decision of the party to allow states decide the kind of primaries they would adopt to pick candidates.
The situation soon took a turn for the worse as the APC in the state split between camps controlled by the governor, Abdulaziz Yari and Sen. Kabir Garba Marafa.
Yari who is serving his second term was believed to have started creating his own political dynasty within the APC in the state. He had hijacked the APC structures at all levels. He was further said to have undermined the political influence of his political benefactor, Senator Ahmad Sani Yarima, making the Senator recline into shadows, wielding little or no influece at the state and national politics of the APC, unlike before.
For Senator Marafa, he is perceived to enjoy the support of the national leadership of the party just as he banked on presidential influence as he was believed to be part of the Buhari’s chicken cabinet.
But the drama intensified within the party as its national leadership resolved to conduct direct primary in the nomination of the party’s candidates for the elective positions.
The party’s national chairman Adams Oshiomhole, introduced the conduct of direct primary election to elect a flagbearer of the party at various level.
But, the move of the national chairman of the party was yet to address the problem of factionalisation of the party, like what obtained in Zamfara State where two factions emerged during the congresses.
The two factions each with executives from ward to state had submitted names of the state office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) for recognition as each claim authenticity.
With no respite in sight, the primaries in the state was marred by violence resulting in the national leadership of the party cancelling the outcome.
While they battled and couldn’t meet the deadline, INEC said it would not allow the APC to field candidates in Zamfara in keeping with the rules.
Before long the legal tussle began. Two courts issued conflicting rulings on whether INEC can accept candidates presented by the APC.
In Zamfara State, a High Court sitting in Gusau, ruled that the governing APC actually conducted primaries in the state and should be allowed to present candidates for electoral contest.
An Abuja court, however, ruled otherwise.
The postponement of the elections however created a window for faction of the party led by the governor to field a candidate based on an Appeal Court ruling in Abuja.
INEC which had declined to include APC in the ballot on grounds of the conflict High Court judgements, complied with the Appellate court ruling by listing the ruling party in the ballot.
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The opposition parties in the state, especially the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) cried foul over the scenario. The Sen Marafa-led faction of the APC maintained that the ruling didn’t validate APC inclusion on the ballot.
The group said in a statement issued by their lawyer , Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN ), that “ the assertion ” that the Court of Appeal had cleared the way for the APC to participate in the polls which would start today with the National Assembly elections on Saturday was “ false ” .
But Ozekhome said on Friday that the Court of Appeal only set aside the judgment of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction but refused to make any order asking INEC to accept the party ’ s candidate .The lawyer argued that in the absence of any specific order by the Court of Appeal, it implied that the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja , validating INEC ’ s decision not to accept the candidates of the APC in the state succeeded in part .
The rival Governor Abdul ’ aziz Yari – led faction of the party in the state had celebrated the Court of Appeal’ s verdict which set aside the earlier judgment of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on the crisis.
On this ground the APC contested the election and conveniently won. Muktar Idris of All Progressives Congress has emerged winner of Zamfara governorship election held on Saturday .
Muktar secured 534 , 541 votes out of the 810 , 782 votes cast across the 14 local government areas of the state.
PDP’s Bello Matawalle scored 189 , 452 to emerge second; Senator Saidu Dansadau of National Rescue Movement scored 15 , 177 votes.
But the jubilation of Yari’s faction was shortlived.
The Court of Appeal in Sokoto led by Justice Tom Yakubu, on Monday set aside the judgment of a Zamfara High Court on the APC primaries that produced the party’s candidates for the governorship, National and State Assembly elections.
In the judgement, which was adopted by the two other judges in the panel, Tijjani Abubakar and Jamilu Tukur, Justice Tom Yakubu held that the lower court failed to perform its duty to properly evaluate the evidence before it.
“The Appeal is hereby allowed. The judgement of the lower court delivered on the 25th, January 2019 by Shankafi in suit No ZMS/GS/52/2018 is hereby set aside. Parties shall bear their costs.”
The judgement therefore validated the long held position by INEC that APC had no candidates in the National Assembly, Governorship and State Assembly elections.
This time, there was wide jubilation across the state, as news filtered out that, court of appeal had sacked APC candidates, youths went to streets to register their appreciation.
Thousands of Sen. Marafa supporters converged at Yandoto and celebrated the court victory. While, the supporters of government led faction were in a state of confusion and anxiety over the issue.
The suspension of issuance of certificate of return to the Governor-elect and members elect by INEC compounded the situation.
Governor Yari has since urged his supporters to remain calm and law abiding citizens as INEC was studying the judgement and also, would be taken to supreme court for interpretation.
Counting the cost…
With the case still open to be tried at the Supreme Court, the jubilation in Sen Marafa’s camp remains inconclusive.
However, political watchers aver that the situation the APC has found itself in Zamfara could have been avoided if the stakeholders have had some restrain. As it stands now, both camps appear to be losing the war to the opposition PDP, on account of a bitter, perhaps unnecessary, intra-party battle.
Other pundits believe that the national leadership perhaps needs to review the role it played while the saga lasted.
As it stands, the opposition PDP is hoping to capitalise on the misadventure of the APC to return to power in the state. It is expected that the party which came second in the governorship poll would seek to request that it ought to be declared winner of the election. The PDP is no stranger to the state as it governed the state before.
Be that as it may, it would seem like the bigger loser is the electorate in the state. Obviously, whatever quality of governance that the state ought to enjoy in the coming months might not be realised as the political actors get distracted by the forthcoming battle at the Apex Court.
Observers of Zamfara politics and analysts aver that for a state that is not in good standing with regards to human development capital and infrastructural attainment, the next couple of months might further compound the state’s affairs.
