The recent defection of Zamfara State Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle to the All Progressives Congress (APC) has somehow put former Governor Abdulaziz Yari in a tight corner.
Until Matawalle’s exit from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the progressives’ fold, Yari held sway as the leader of the APC; commanding great influence and followership across the state.
In fact, the former governor’s political journey took root from the All Peoples Party (APP) which over the years metamorphosed to the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and now APC.
At under 30 years, Yari, along with others, defied all odds to prevent the robust and well organised PDP to make appreciable progress in the 1999 general elections in the state. His party lost just one federal constituency, Anka, but cleared Shinkafi/Zurmi, Birnin-Magaji, Maru/Bungudu, Gumi/Bukkuyum and Gusau/Tsafe. It also cleared all the three senate seats and equally took the main price, the governorship seat.
The former governor was ANPP secretary and Director General (DG) of the Muhammadu Buhari presidential campaign organisation in the state going into another general elections in 2003. Although Buhari lost the election, he, however, won in Yari’s Zamfara, even as the party cleared all the House of Assembly and National Assembly seats, as well as the governorship.
He was to become the chairman of the party in 2004, and by the time Ahmad Sani Yarima was nearing the end of his second term as governor in 2007, pressure mounted on Yari to step in as governor.
However, reason prevailed. Both Yari and Yarima were from the same senatorial district. In fact, Yarima’s local government of Bakura was created out of Yari’s Talata Mafara LGA. So both leaders reasoned that it was only fair to give other senatorial districts the chance to have a go at the state’s topmost seat.
Therefore, Yari opted for the House of Representatives, while Mahmuda Aliyu Shinkafi emerged as governor in 2007, but could only stay for a term because of what analysts say was his “miscalculation” following his defection to PDP. Yari succumbed to pressure by picking the ANPP ticket, beating Shinkafi to the seat. He also won his reelection for a second term on the platform of the APC in 2015.
Yari played a critical role during the process leading to the merger that produced the APC as a sitting governor. The merger saw the defection of some state governors from the PDP for the new party. They were Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto, Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara and Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano. Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Edo, Osun, Lagos, Oyo and Ekiti were to also fall to the APC. Yari was to be elected Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) later, where he served as a rallying figure for his colleagues.
The former governor continued to consolidate his hold on the party in his state until an internal crisis thrown up by the governorship primary ahead of the 2019 governorship election undermined its unity and split its ranks. The ensuing bad blood cost the party the governorship and 33 other seats it had won during the general elections through a Supreme Court judgment.
Few years later, Matawalle, the biggest beneficiary of the judgment, also laid claim to the APC leadership in the state following his defection from PDP; somehow leaving Yari, the party’s founding member, in a lurch.
A member of Yari’s camp and former governorship aspirant in Zamfara, Malam Sagir Hamidu, in an interview with 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE, specifically questioned the dissolution of the party’s executive and transfer of leadership to Matawalle by the Mai Mala Buni-led APC Caretaker Committee, adding that due process was not followed and that the action could not stand.
Malam Sagir said, “We are loyal party men and women, we will have no problem if it was done with utmost sincerity, decorum and respect for people who have been on ground and nurtured the party to the stage where it has become attractive to others. But that has not been the case here.”
However, observers say the development in Zamfara should not have come to Yari as a surprise having been part of the party’s decision makers for many years as governor and leader.
“It has been a recurring decimal within political parties in Nigeria. You were here when the same APC ceded the party to governors who defected to its fold in November, 2013; the affected governors automatically became the party leaders in their states,” Dr Adamu Mohammed of the Department of Political Science, Abubakar Audu University, Ayingba, Kogi State, pointed out.
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE recalls that both Attahiru Bafarawa, a former Governor of Sokoto State, and his counterpart from Kano, Ibrahim Shekarau, suffered the same fate when the national leadership of the party went over them to woo Aliyu Wamakko and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso into its fold and subsequently transferred the party’s leadership in their respective states to them preparatory to the 2015 general elections.
It was learnt that party leaders led by Muhammadu Buhari, Chief Bisi Akande and Bola Tinubu, on November 6, visited Sokoto to woo Wamakko to APC, without informing Bafarawa, one of Buhari’s key allies and the party leader in the state. The development stirred controversy in the state with the governor threatening to withdraw his support for the party. A seven-man delegation led by John Oyegun and Yari had to travel to Sokoto to apologise to Bafarawa over the matter.
“The national leadership of the party understands the disaffection caused by the mistake; our visit here today is to make peace and offer our regrets that what happened was a mistake of the head, not the body,” Oyegun who led the delegation noted. But the situation had caused a deep wound which failed to heal. Both Bafarawa and Shekarau revolted by exiting the party for the PDP.
Many years on, however, APC’s national leadership has continued to make the mistake of the ‘head, creating disaffection and cracks in the party. The most recent of which are the developments in Cross River, Ebonyi and Zamfara.
Analysts agree that the development is a setback which has no doubt whittled down the former governor’s influence within the party and altered his calculations for the future.
“He will have to return to the drawing board and restrategise; and looking at his antecedents politically, the party stands to lose if it fails to bring him close,” Dr Tanko Yunisa, a former presidential aspirant on the platform of the National Conscience Party (NCP), told 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE.
Fewer options for Yari
There are raging fears that Yari may take the Bafarawa and Shekarau option by jettisoning the party and trying his luck on another platform, with analysts saying the former governor, with his influence and financial standing, is a “beautiful bride” that political parties will be happy to court.
However, the former governor’s body language and utterances suggest that exiting the party is not among his options; at least for now. In a recent media interview, he explained that he was not contesting the leadership of the party with Matawalle.
He said, “As for the pronouncement of the National Chairman (declaring the governor as leader), I will not comment on it, but I refer them to the constitution and let them do the needful as far as the constitution is concerned. The Nigerian Constitution keeps the Nigerian president where he is, it keeps the party where it is, keeps everybody where he is. So, let’s look at the constitution; it is clear about everyone’s roles. For me, I am not contesting the leadership with the governor or anybody; it is out of respect that I am being called a leader because I was there before him.”
Despite the crisis thrown up by Matawalle, Yari’s preoccupation has been his aspiration for the party’s national chairmanship position. The former governor has since declared interest and has been granting media interviews on why he is most qualified for the position.
However, he can only aspire for the position if it is zoned to the North West, and even if that is made possible, the former governor will no doubt require his governor’s support on the matter. But there are even early indications that the former governor will not have an easy ride as far as the chairmanship position is concerned.
A top party source from the area told our reporter that certain elements from the North West eyeing the vice president’s position are already fighting to ensure the zone does not get the party’s chairmanship slot. Yari himself recently confirmed this when he said, “Somebody told me that some of my colleagues and former colleagues are interested in the number one and number two slots. So, if the national chairmanship seat goes to the North West, nothing will get to them, so they ganged up to neutralise Yari.”
Beyond the national chairmanship position, analysts believe that another option open to Yari is to contest for the Zamfara West Senate seat in 2023. But the source said his chances of securing the ticket was quite slim.
“As things stand, Matawalle will prefer someone that is loyal and has proven to be an ally. He knows Yari is powerful and influential with the capacity to antagonise him; so I don’t see Matawalle making that mistake,” the source said.
He further said Matawalle would prefer Lawal Hassan Anka to continue or compensate Yarima to return to the senate since both Yarima and Yari are from the same senatorial district.
