Crisis in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State came to the fore yesterday as Senator Kabiru Marafa and his followers regrouped in Kaduna State on Sunday night and declared the revival of their faction.
Marafa, who represented Zamfara Central Senatorial District in the 7th and 8th National Assembly, announced the reincarnation of his faction in protest to his exclusion from the recent APC meeting in the state.
Addressing newsmen in Kaduna State on Sunday night, during a meeting with hundreds of his followers who arrived from Zamfara, the former lawmaker said two APC factions have been running simultaneously since the era of former governor, Bello Matawalle, who is the serving minister of state for defense.
Marafa disclosed that the crisis rocking the party in the last six years was as a result of interests from political heavyweights in the state.
He added that the crisis led to the ruling party losing major elections in the state, except for President Bola Tinubu who won Zamfara in the 2023 presidential election, in which he served as the coordinator for Tinubu/Shettima campaign organisation.
He exonerated his camp from the state’s APC crisis and dispelled claims that his faction took APC to court in 2019.
He blamed the APC leadership for conducting what he called an illegal primary which led to court action and culminated in a judgement that awarded the whole state to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Marafa said he re-established his faction because APC in Zamfara State cannot function without him. He said he decided to assemble his followers and begin grassroot mobilisation across polling units in the state.
He also lamented the spate of insecurity ravaging the state, stressing that the people are under siege. He said their economy and other activities are grounded as a result of insurgency confronting the state.
He said, “I was the coordinator of Tinubu/Shettima campaign organisation in Zamfara to the Glory of God we were able to convince people and Tinubu won Zamfara state. Since that time, I have not discussed nor sit with my supporters so after one year in office by this government we deemed it necessary, timely, wise and convenient now to see ourselves and commiserate with people that lost their loved ones. Those that were abducted and those released. Those that are still in captivity, died and so on and so forth.
“Now shortly after we announced this meeting, suddenly APC came alive in Zamfara state. For three years, there was never a single meeting in Zamfara. Suddenly APC said they have called a meeting of who is who and those that matters in Zamfara and I wonder, whether you like me or not I am somebody in Zamfara APC and without me Zamfara state APC is never complete without me.
I’m not saying that I’m the only one. If anybody say it’s complete, let him lead the way.
“So because of that now we introduce the third agenda. We said okay since you have accepted, that there are two factions in Zamfara. I have never seen it done it anywhere in the world where you are in charge. God gives you power them you now recognize another power and said that there are two powers in the state.
“So they now called the two factions and said that they are the owners of APC and they have called a meeting that they want everybody. Then, we said fine. So since this is what they said, inline with our tradition we don’t look for trouble so we are going to re-established our own faction and we are going to do it from polling units to the state level.
“Therefore, we are going to reincarnate our faction which we dissolved in favour of Yari faction then because it was the faction that was recognized by the APC at that time and since we agreed to come together we thought there was no need to deceive ourselves to say let’s go to marafa faction and the Yari faction. So that’s what Matawalle did as a leader of the party since he was the governor.
“He was governor and the party was handed over to him and when we made the ground alliance Yari said his faction stays and Matawalle accepted. So anywhere there is meeting in Zamfara, two factions are recognized. They will say this is the leader of Yari faction, this is the Leader of Matawalle faction. I have never in my life heard of that. But since that was what Matawalle wanted, I had to wish him well as my friend that time. But now that they have excluded us in the APC, we want to gather ourselves.
“From today, I have directed my followers to reincarnate our faction from polling unit to state level because that’s what the leaders of APC want. There is always an implication in whatever you do. Even if you decide to follow somebody, there is implication. We have been on that path in the past and we know the road,” he said.