Political Analysis
It has been the expectations of many observers that the aftermath of the 2023 general elections in Zamfara will drag the APC stakeholders and indeed its supporters back to the drawing board for them to be able to do a proper postmortem of the reasons for their failure in the election and chart the way forward.
But one year after, it seems they have not learned any lesson from their massive defeat in the 2023 elections, hence another wave of crises loomed into the party with the apex disgrace of announcing the suspension of its state party chairman Tukur Umar Danfulani by the executive members of his ward of (Galadima).
The lesson of the 2019 massive political crash suffered by the Zamfara APC in the opinion of many observers has only served as petroleum motor spirit that further fueled the fire of the crises within the party so much so that the so-called reconciliation made after the 2019 elections came with plenty of barriers that caused the party another worst defeat in the hand of the opposition in 2023.
In 2023, a serving Governor, three other former Governors with their deputies, serving and former senators, members of the house of reps as well as other giant politicians all crashed in the sinking ship courtesy of the PDP led by someone they always referred to as “first timer in politics Dauda Lawal”.
The defeat of Zamfara APC in 2023, especially during the Governorship election is expected to serve as complete classroom lesson that everyone within the party should see as takeaway for a genuine reflection and dialogue.
But surprisingly, however, the type of mess that is happening within the party under the leadership of Tukur Umar Danfulani is demoralizing the majority of the right thinking members of the party in the state.
Many observers said there is a “big fire on the mountain” and with the way things are going if the leaders of the party namely Sen. Abdul Aziz Yari, Sen. Kabir Marafa, Minister Bello Matawalle, Aminu Sani Jaji Ahmad Sani Yarima and rest failed to seal off their personal political differences and move toward uniting the party then they should all forget going into election in 2027 because the outcome will again be catastrophic.
It could be recalled that two days back Sen. Marafa Kabiru has threatened legal action against Sen. Yari if he fails to either provide evidence of donating money worth N700M for him in the 2023 election as alleged by Yari’s DG Media Almansoor Gusau or retract the story with award of N7b for damage.
Aminu Jaji is having a difficult time with some part of the APC leadership in Birnin Magaji who went to the extent of suspending him from the party and that was followed by series of protest at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja asking the commission to investigate Jaji for alleged funding of terrorism.
Another letter was again written to the President and Director of State Security Services asking the duo to order for the removal of security details attached to Jaji by some constituents that claimed to be from Kaura and Birnin Magaji local government.
Few weeks back, Sen. Marafa went hard on Minister Matawalle over his comment on the position of the Northern Elders Forum regarding the Tinubu administration and the interview was considered to be a wider gate for split of the crises within the Zamfara APC.
Minister Matawalle came under serious pressure with various political and interest groups staging demonstrations asking for the President to step him down over allegations of N70b corruption charges labelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the EFCC.
This is couple with the fact that few months back the party in the state APC is without a state Secretariat, not until when they secure another structure and branded because of the heated pressure mounted by the concern members of the party and even the opposition.
To show the extent of the disunity within the Zamfara APC, it is not in doubt that supporters of the party in Zamfara are now divided in between the borderlines of either belonging to Yari, Matawalle, Marafa, Yarima or Jaji camp with no sense of genuine and United leadership.
Observers are of the views that, unless certain steps are taken to mend these differences and work toward uniting the party supporters, PDP and its candidates at various positions may likely have a safe landing in the 2027 election.
“From the time of the party congresses, neither Yari nor Senator Marafa, Jaji, Yarima or Matawalle may accept leadership enforced through the outcome of an election to be conducted especially when it favors any of these five splinter political camps” says a party member Malam Bashir Gusau.
The danger he added “any of these groups that claimed the victory of the emerging Congress with state party Chairman and other executives, may face serious litigation possibly to the level of the Supreme Court and that may eventually affect the chances of the party similar to what happened in 2019”
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In 2019 for instance, it was the same internal uprising within the APC led by former Governor Yari that affects the chances of the party and despite billions of naira lost through political outreach and litigations, the party lost to someone who has no business with the crises.
What might be the possible cause of these looming crisis rocking the APC in Zamfara?.
If i use the views of Sani Abudllahi Wamban Shinkafi in an interview he has on the AIT platform recently, he stated that, “the crises were deliberately per mutated in preparation for the 2027 politicking”.
But is this the best way for the APC to pay back the people of Zamfara who are suffering in the hand of the heartless armed bandits?
Sani Shinkafi responded that, “the development within the Zamfara APC is unfortunate; hence the people in Zamfara are seriously in need of genuine peace not the so-called politicking”.
Another question to ask again?, does the APC in Zamfara has the right leadership that is capable of addressing these crises, the answer from many APC supporters is “NO”.
What are their reasons? Some believed that the answer is negative because “the leadership of the party under Tukur Umar Dan Fulani has always been the problem. The Secretariat of the party has been abandoned since after the end of the 2023 elections and that none of the party leaders are available in Zamfara to be able to coordinate the affairs of the party and there are no programmes or activities to show that yes the party is active and alive in the state” Says an APC supporter Nura Tsafe.
“You cannot run a party in abstention and that you required party leaders who are too responsive to the yearning and concerns of their supporters and in the case of Zamfara you only see some party leaders when people like Sen. Abdul Aziz Yari are in town because he used to share money or during a wedding of a prominent figure and after the events they would disappear again” says another party supporter Lawali Bungudu
On the way forward, observers of the political development in Zamfara are of the views that, unless if the top leaders of the APC in Zamfara such as Yari, Jaji, Marafa, Yarima and Matawalle do not mean well for the party again, they need to seat on the drawing table and reposition the affairs of the party for future victory.
Top leaders like Yari, Marafa, Matawalle, Yarima and Jaji needs to do away with their differences and come together to reproduce another party structure that is competent and serious so that the party can be revived.
Unless this is done the party should forget it” says a supporter Nura Tsafe.
