Abdulaziz Yari, Governor of Zamfara State, says he has forgiven the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the unfair treatment received regarding the primary election held in 2018.
He stated this after a private meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja. He was accompanied by Mukhtar Idris, the Zamfara APC governorship candidate.
According to NAN, Yari said the court had vindicated him.
On Friday, the Zamfara State High Court 3 sitting in Gusau, the state capital, upheld the primary election conducted by the APC state chapter.
On October 11, 2018, the state chapter of APC filed a case before the court praying it to compel the APC national headquarters and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept the primary election it conducted on October 7, 2018. The national headquarters of APC had earlier declared that there was no primary election of the party in the state.
Speaking after the meeting in Abuja, he said: “Some other people are saying that the reign of Yerima and Abdulaziz for 20 years is over in Zamfara State, but I believe Almighty God to give power to whomsoever he desires to give and he promised to sustain the power as long you uphold justice.
“I use this opportunity to call on the party; the crisis didn’t die at the party level. I can say the party has not done justice to us, but we have forgiven it; in a democracy, there is a process.
“Section 87, 1 to 14 of the Electoral Act is very clear on what should be done; so, in our case, we were denied many things, but as I said earlier, we have forgiven and we are going to continue.
“You remember, from October, 2018, we have been struggling on whether there is primary or no primary in Zamfara State by INEC and we believe we have undergone all the processes.
“Today, God did it once again for us by giving us victory — the court accepted that Zamfara State APC has conducted its primaries based on the evidence presented before that court.”
Speaking on the role of INEC in the matter, the governor continued: “The state REC went around and supervised as allowed by the law. Unfortunately, the INEC headquarters did not wait to receive the report by the REC there and it went ahead with a pronouncement.
“Anyway, we secured the certified true copy and presented before the court and I think it is the document that supported the court in its process to pass the judgment in our favour.”
