Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa on Thursday faulted the protest in Gusau, Zamfara State capital, calling for the sack of the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
Marafa who is front lie governorship contender in Zamfara State said that a number of sponsored protesters stormed Gusau, the state capital on Thursday calling for the immediate removal of Oshiomhole over his respect for the rule of law in the conduct of party primaries.
The Zamfara Central senator in a statement he issued in Abuja, noted the protesters were “mobilised by the State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari following his inability to bend rules to impose candidates who are his cronies on the party in the state.”
The ranking Senator who is also as” leading governorship aspirant of the APC in Zamfara State,” said that Yari should be the one to be sacked and not Oshiomhole.”
He described the APC national chairman as “a law abiding leader.”
Marafa said, “Yari and his co- travelers are wrong and Comrade Oshiomhole is right as far as the issues in the party are concerned.”
The senator who recalled the genesis of the party crisis in Zamfara, insisted that “primaries were not conducted in Zamfara State and there was no consensus either!”
He said, “There was a court order that says all parties should not take any step that will render useless the litigation before it. The party under the able leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole respected the order and said all parties in the crisis should hands off. The party and it leadership should be commended for respecting the law, a foundation upon which APC was built.
“Two, when the committee of the NWC came to conduct the primary in Zamfara, violent orchestrated by Yari’s people erupted. The committee was forced to cancel the election. This is also a valid thing. The position taken by the Governor that primaries should be conducted by the executives in his camp was irresponsible, contemptuous and height of lawlessness.
“The crux of the matter is that there was no election and there was no consensus in Zamfara. So, we are commending Comrade Oshiomhole and INEC for respecting the court order.”
Marafa said the millions of Naira spent by Yari to allegedly organize the protest should have been channelled towards securing the release of 17 persons including two young girls kidnapped in Dauran, Jangebe, Magami and other locations in the state.
”The money spent on the protest should have been used to assist the security agencies in the state to rescue the abducted persons. The Governor has stopped assisting security agencies with fund in the state in the last five months,” he said.
Marafa assured that majority of APC family members in Zamfara are solidly behind Oshiomhole and the leadership of the party.