The former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Yerima, has said that the Caretaker Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mai Mala Buni, is right to have declared the Governor of the State, Bello Matawalle, who recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to APC as the leader of the party in the state.
He said the decision of the party leadership was in line with the party’s constitution which says the President is the leader of the party at the national level and the governors are the leaders at State levels.
A former Governor of the state, Abdulaziz Yari, and Senator Kabiru Marafa had kicked against the decision of the party to declare Matawalle the leader of the party, insisting that Buni lacks the power to make such proclamation.
But speaking with journalists on Tuesday in Abuja, Yerima described the defection of the governor as a good development.
According to him, “It is a good development for us and he is coming back home. He was in the All Peoples Party (APP), he was a founding member of APP, he was also with us in All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP). It was only when my deputy who succeeded me left the party for People Democratic Party (PDP) that he went along with him and contested for the House of Representatives under the PDP and won the election. So, for me and for him, it is a home coming for him”.
On the issue of leadership in the State, he said the constitution of the party was very clear, insisting that both Marafa and Yari cannot change the constitution of the party.
He stated: “The constitution of APC is very clear, everything under democracy is governed and guided by the constitution of either the party or the country or the Electoral Act. The constitution of APC has stipulated that the President and Commander in Chief is the leader of the party at the national level and at State level, all the governors are leaders of their party at that level.
“Can they change the constitution by their actions? Or can they just follow the rules and regulations of politicking? It is the constitution of the APC that said the governors are leaders of the party in the States. I was the founding member of APP, I became the first governor in Zamfara state when my deputy succeeded me, I left the position for him. You cannot do your time and do another person’s time. So I’m sure that every member of the party now knows, as declared by the National Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the APC that he is the leader of the party in the State and the state executive has been dissolved.”
The former lawmaker stressed that the prospect of APC in future election in the state was good, adding that the state has always been an APC state from when it was ANPP, adding that the PDP only tasted power in the state due to the supreme court judgment.