Governor Yari warns Inec that no elections will hold in Zamfara unless APC candidates are involved

ZAMFARA State's Governor Abdul’Aziz Yari has warned that he will not allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) to conduct elections in Zamfara State unless candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are allowed to participate.

In December, Inec told the APC that it will not be allowed to field candidates in Zamfara State having missed the submission of candidate deadline. Under Inec's timetable, political parties had until October 7 to conclude their primary elections and the last day for the submission of lists of sponsored candidates was October 18 for the presidential and National Assembly elections and November 2 for governorship and state houses of assembly polls.

Due to endless infighting within the Zamfara chapter of the APC, the party has been unable to hold primary elections as several attempt to elect candidates have ended in rancour, with one even resulting in delegates exchanging blows. According to Inec, this means that the party will not be able to feature candidates in any election in the state, apart from the presidency where it has adopted President Muhammadu Buhari as its flagbearer.

Exasperated with the development, Governor Yari has threatened that without APC candidates on the ballot, there would be no elections in the state. Speaking during an APC campaign rally at Talata Mafara Local Government Area of the state, the governor described the exclusion of the APC from the forthcoming elections in the state as a costly mistake from Inec.

Governor Yari said: “We would not accept any election to hold in the state without APC candidates. The recent court judgment has made it clear that there were primary elections in Zamfara State and that candidates were presented to Inec but yet the lists were not released for reasons best known to it.

“Zamfara State is a stronghold of APC and besides all our actions were based on court orders. We are advising Inec to obey the order and come out with the list of APC candidates in the state.”

In addition, the governor warned the Inec chairman to be aware of his responsibilities to the state. Governor Yari, however, appealed to APC supporters in the state to always remain resolute and support the party’s candidates in all elections.