From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, has said the rulings in the case instituted over the conduct of primaries by the state branch of the All Progressive Congress (APC), is in his favour. Speaking to State House correspondents in Abuja yesterday, the governor thanked God “for answering our prayers of seeking for justice.”
“You remember sometimes in October, we have been struggling whether there was primaries or not in Zamfara State with INEC, even though we believed that we had undergone all the processes and today, God did it once again for us by giving us victory.
“The court accepted that Zamfara APC conducted its primaries and based on the witnesses presented in court. So, we Zamfara people, are happy with the outcome and we thank the department of justice and the judges who stood on their ground to ensure that justice is granted.”
According to Yari, the judgement had not come late as many other cases remained in court even as the elections approach.
He said: “It is not too late. Some of us were given opportunity or encouraged by the president to go and seek for justice. So, this victory for today is not late, I can tell you in the entire Nigeria, Zamfara is one of the states in which APC is sure of 90 percent. If I decide today not to go back to Zamfara, you will see what will happen on 16th of February because people are waiting. How can a system, which has been running since 1999 and just overnight you want to scrap it in order for them not to participate in the election. That is unfair.”
Yari noted that there were two positions enunciated by the Zamfara court judgement, explaining: “But let me also thank INEC because there are two conflicting statements, one national, one state. The state INEC went round and conducted and supervised as allowed by law. Unfortunately the INEC at the national did not wait to receive the report of the Zamfara State INEC represented by the REC.”