Inec publishes list of candidates omitting APC aspirants in elections across Zamfara State

OPPOSITION parties in Zamfara State have been celebrating the fact that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will not participate in the forthcoming elections after the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) disqualified all of its candidates.

During its party primaries, APC delegates could not agree on how to proceed with elections and an attempt by the APC leadership to resolve the matter resulted in pandemonium. At the party congress organised to select candidates, delegates ended up exchanging blows as the two factions in the state refused to accept the claims of the other.

At the centre of the row was the refusal of Governor Abdulaziz Yari to make nomination forms available to members of the opposing faction led by Senator Kabir Marafa. Following the botched congress, the APC was unable to agree on its candidates and as such no list was sent to Inec, so the commission has omitted the name of all APC aspirants from its final list.

Earlier today in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, there was jubilation among the opposition parties after Inec published it list with the APC absent from it. Dr Bello Matawalle, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, said Inec has proved to Nigerians that the 2019 general elections would be free, fair, credible and acceptable.

Alhaji Sani Shinkafi, the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (Apga), noted that Inec has done what was expected of it. Comrade Ishaka Paul Ofemile, the presidential candidate of Nigerian Elements Progressive Party, said he appreciated Inec's decision too, noting that Nigeria is so big for anybody to use federal might or power of incumbency to manipulate decisions.

Senator Marafa, representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District, pointed out that Governor Yari wanted to prove to the world that he was the alpha and omega in the state. He added that the governor came to the political limelight from nowhere through the political influence of Senator Ahmad Sani Yarima.

According to Senator Marafa, even though he was not going to contest the governorship election, he was satisfied that Governor Yari did not achieve his selfish interest after all. He added that he does not care of the party loses in the state as his first loyalty is to his people and not to the APC.