A former governor of Zamfara State, Sani Ahmad Yarima says President Muhammadu Buhari was not in support of former governor Abdulaziz Yari’s imposition of candidates in the build-up to the 2019 elections which he said was the reason the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost the state to the opposition.
Yarima, who was speaking in an interview with Radio Nigeria’s Pride FM in Gusau, Zamfara, said he met President Buhari before the election.
He said the president while expressing reservations about the imposition of candidates by Yari, said ‘We heard what your governor was doing and we are disapproving of his plan to impose candidates because, the position at the party level is that primaries should be conducted to ensure level playing ground for all candidates.
He further said shortly after his meeting with the president, the national chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole called him and said ‘I’m fighting with Governor Yari on his plan to impose candidates. I told him it would not be accepted but he insisted on doing as he wished. I then told Oshiomhole that he should not worry, that I will talk to Governor Yari.
“I then met and told Yari what Oshiomhole told me, but he said the national chairman of the party could not stop him. I told him that Oshiomhole was not alone in opposing the idea. I said President Buhari was also disapproving of it.
“But Yari said, ‘no, no, no, please don’t bring President Buhari into this matter.’ President Buhari has no hands in all the crises but Oshiomhole’, and that he would make sure he did as he wished.
“I said okay no problem I then left. I was very careful not to quarrel with him like I did with my ex-deputy. “Since he said I should back down, I retraced my steps in the affair but whenever there was any activity concerning the party I would go if invited,” Yarima said.
“When President Buhari came for campaign in Gusau, he said would not raise the hands of any candidate and he bluntly told the stakeholders his stand. “I then drew the attention of Governor Yari to what Buhari said during the stakeholders’ meeting when he arrived Gusau for his campaign rally. I told him if he had allowed me to explain what President Buhari said all the crises wouldn’t have happened.”
Meanwhile, Senator Sani Yarima has said he would not contest for any position at the state level again, but that people, especially his allies, have started urging him to contest for the presidency.
