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Yari, Marafa decamp to PDP ahead of 2023 elections

Abdul Aziz Yari, former governor of Zamfara State, and Senator Kabiru Garba Mafara, together with their supporters have abandoned the All Progressive Congress (APC) to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Bala Mande, PDP Chairman, told reporters in Gusau, the state capital, on Sunday that the party had received Yari, Marafa, and other key APC members who had defected to the PDP together with their throngs of fans.

“We want to officially announce to you of the joining of our great party, the PDP, by the former Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Abdul Aziz Yari, Senator Kabiru Garba Mafara and their supporters,” the statement read.

“They are now PDP members, we have reached an agreement and we are going to implement the agreement.

We have agreed to work together as one political entity in one party, the PDP for the success of the party in the State.

We have also agreed to work extra hard to reclaim the lost mandate of Zamfara State in 2023 and save its people from their present predicament.

I have given the stakeholders a complete update of where we are as a result of this development,” Mande told reporters.

The news put a stop to speculations about Yari and Marafa defecting from the APC to the PDP.

The two have been at the center of the Zamfara APC’s leadership dispute, which had resulted in the party’s disqualification in the state’s 2015 elections.

The problem was exacerbated when the state’s governor, Bello Matawalle, switched from the PDP to the APC.

Marafa and Yari lost their leadership positions in the Zamfara APC as a result of Matawalle’s defection.

Former Zamfara State governor, Abdul’aziz Yari has cautioned the State Government against politicising security challenges in the state.

Yari said this when he spoke with newsmen on Monday, March 15, in Talata Mafara, headquarters of Talata Mafara Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.

“Insecurity is a global issue, each country has its own peculiar security challenge, all we need to do is to put hands together to ensure the safety of our people.

“We should avoid sentiments or politicising the matter affecting the lives of our people. We met with President Muhammad Buhari at the National Security Council meeting in Abuja last week.

All of us at the meeting, irrespective of political differences resolved to work together with the federal government to ensure lasting peace not only in Zamfara but Nigeria in general,” he said.

Yari advised the state government to collaborate with the federal government towards addressing the problem.

“Gov. Bello Matawalle should be careful while handling security matters in the state, he should think deeply on any advice given to him on how to tackle security challenges in the state,” he said.

He dismissed allegations that members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were supporting banditry in the state.

“When I was the governor, I never accuse the opposition party of sponsoring banditry.

I wish to debunk such claims as they were made by mischief makers working against APC in the state,” he said.