Recently the wife of the President Hajiya Aisha Muhammadu Buhari has recently released a palliative to hundreds of APC supporters in Zamfara state as part of her concern on their plight. This plus other interventions by the party leader in the state the former Governor Yari and other party strong holds such as the former APC gubernatorial aspirant Mukhtar Shehu Idris, Aminu Sani Jaji, Ibrahim Shehu Gusau, and lots of others have made the Sallah celebration very easier to the APC supporters in the state. Associate Editor of Thunder Blowers Online News Medium Anas Sani Anka has hosted the State APC Chairman Lawal M. Liman to discuss these and many other issues that have dominated the politics of the state.
Your party the APC has been out of the political control of Zamfara State for over a year now, how have you been able to sustain the unity of the party among its members?
Alhamdulillah, we as spiritual believers we believe in what God has decided for the APC in Zamfara state especially after the 2019 general elections and we have no objection to that. I could remember there was a time after we have left the government, the former Governor once confided in me that, “Mr. Chairman God almighty is the most merciful and his decision is almost a righteous one”.
You are also a living witness to what transpired in Zamfara in spite of the internal crises that rocked the party during the 2019 general elections we were able to win the election 100% and we believe that, winning election may not be possible without the love people have for the former Governor and his style of administration.
It is on record what the former Governor was able to achieve within his eight years stewardship and his giant effort of killing political thuggery and restoring of political dignity of both the ruling and opposition parties. Again I will tell you in fairness to Zamfara people, they have done their best to show love for the former Governor and that is why as a party we will do our best to protect their interest at all cost.
Again, you can remember during the administration of the former Governor he took the painstaking step of organizing a political town hall meeting across all the seventeen emirate councils and in that meeting, the former Governor was able to tell the people of each emirate what he was able to do for them, how much it cost the government, who executed the project and at which location. This is his pattern of politics and I think it will take Zamfara people longer than they can think to forget Yari and APC.
Just recently, the wife of the President donated palliative to the party supporters in the state, what do you think motivated her to remember Zamfara APC supporters?
Everybody sympathized with the APC supporters in Zamfara concerning what happened after the Supreme Court Verdict which forced out power from the hand of the APC. Majority of the people believed that, the judgment was handed down the way it was done not because justice was done. However, as spiritually motivated people we believed you cannot change the will of Allah and with that, we decided to put everything behind and forge ahead with the process of reuniting the party members.
Don’t forget, APC as a political party was almost born in Zamfara State and you all know the kind of support the former Governor has rendered to the APC as the Chairman of the Nigeria’s Governors Forum then to see to the birth of the APC so I think that spirit of being fairness to Zamfara APC supporters is what motivated the President to be concern about us and the same spirit works for his wife Aisha Muhammad Buhari to support us with the palliative and we are very greatful.
How has the palliative distributed amongst the party loyalists in the state?
Considering the season and the critical nature of the period, we decided to prioritize, we decided that, the first phase of the distribution exercise should start with the disabled and vulnerable persons and Party executives across the state were intimated to make sure that, the palliative are distributed to each local government for distribution to these category of persons. By the special will of Allah after the Sallah festive period we shall distribute the remaining part of the palliative to other category of the party supporters.
It has been a tradition that during festive period like Sallah APC supporters are being assisted to celebrate fairly with the wealthy ones, now that you are not in the government as a party have you sustained the tradition?
Yes we did as I speak to you the former Governor Abdulazeez Yari Abubakar has procured and distributed both cows and rams to hundreds of party supporters in the state and as a matter of fact APC supporters are so proud and happy.
Not only him, party stakeholders such as Mukhtar Shehu Idris, Aminu Jaji, Ibrahim Shehu and host of others have done their best and have donated impressive number of cows and rams to the APC supporters in their respective constituen
cies and as a party this is the spirit we want all the APC stakeholders in Zamfara to sustain.
cies and as a party this is the spirit we want all the APC stakeholders in Zamfara to sustain.
Again, here in Kaura Namoda I know what Senator Tijjani Yahaya Kaura has done to help hundreds of party supporters the same thing with Ikira Aliyu Bilbis and many of them. We have to appreciate them and we have to thank them for the gesture and for making our supporters happy. We are indeed proud.
Few month back, your party dragged PDP to court seeking for redress over the removal of eight out of fourteen elected council chairmen elected under the platform of the APC are you still in the court race or you have suspended everything?
I don’t need to tell you that, PDP as a party not only in Zamfara but nationwide does not respect the law and it has been their tradition of doing things the way they feel is in conformity with their political ooerations. Ordinarily, this matter is before the competent court of the land and the very day the removal of the council chairmen was perfected their lawyers were in court litigating same issue so what type of political culture is Zamfara PDP trying to promote?
Again don’t forget there have been court rulings restricting state governors in Nigeria from removing elected council chairmen and Zamfara PDP is in the full know of this development but because they feel they are above the law they went ahead to do what they did but like I have told you in our previous interview, we have challenged this matter in court and surely it is just a matter of time but we shall succeed at the end of the whole struggle.
Are you participating in the yet to be scheduled local government council election since you are challenging the removal of the suspended council chairmen in court?
Whatever that did not follow the appropriate procedure and laws of the land we will not be a party to it. Of course we are in court, we are challenging the action of the state government but this is not to say we are not participating in the election. We have since communicated the development to the party headquarters and we are waiting for their legal advice. But be rest assured we are ready to participate in any election being it local government council or state assembly election but appropriate procedures and laid down rules are instituted. We are not afraid of going in to election with thee ODP and we are very much ready. But like I said we await for the legal advice from our party headquarters.
What is the level of preparation of your party for the forthcoming state assembly bye election in Bakura?
I think INEC has not yet paste out its modalities for the bye election in Bakura and once modalities are put in place as a party we are ready like I said earlier, we are fully ready for any election because APC is fully on the ground.
Is this true that your party leader Abdulazeez Yari is reconciling with aggrieved party members especially Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa?
I could remember during our last interview with you, I have told you that, we have disagreed during the 2019 general elections because politics provided platform for disagreement but there should be an avenue for reconciliation after the disagreement and like I have said last time we met, Ibrahim Shehu was a former PDP gubernatorial aspirant but today he has reunited with Yari, I cited example with Aminu jaji he was part of the G8 political movement but he has now reunited with Yari so the same hand of unity will be extended to other aggrieved members.
Governor Yari is an elderly party leader who believes in the spirit of reconciliation and I am sure our party will be back as united party ever than before. We are ready to accept any avenue for reconciliation with anyone who feels he is ready to take path of unity of the party.
For the second time, Zamfara APC supporters are having their structures demolished by Zamfara Urban and regional Planning Board (ZUREPB) an action which many of you viewed as politically motivated and targeted at silencing the opposition what is your party reaction to the reoccurring development?
One need not to be told that, the action of the government is politically targeting at the APC supporters. The reason they advance is so childish and myopic. Same structure they have demolished at Maradun on the ground that the structure was erected without building approval by ZUREPB was used by the PDP as its local government headquarters the and our government did not accused them of erecting an illegal structure. I asked this question repeatedly, at which point do they realized that, there is no building approval for the structure? Are they saying it was after the structure was handed over to the APC? When it was owned by the PDP ZUREPB did not raised alarm that the structure was erected without permission but because APC is using it now, ZUREPB can raise the alarm?
It is a politics and I am assuring you we have tolerated them enough and we are not going to allow anything illegal to happen to our members again. Politics should be played with decorum and voices should be allowed to be heared that is the beauty of democracy.
What do you have to say about the recent development concerning the discovery of ritual home?.
We as a party we have not taken that issue with immaturity because this is an offence against our holy creator. Ritualism is forbidden in Islam and if they think they can play politics with that very dangerous issue. We have said again and again that government should act accordingly and fish out the perpetrators.
We will also call on the security agencies investigating this matter to please fear Allah and understand that, they are before the public court. What they have said earlier on the investigation and they have said after. It is a double standard on their part as security agencies and they should understand that, whatever position they are holding one day they may not be in that position again but history is a good teacher.
