The crisis rocking the leading opposition party in Zamfara State, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has deepened as some members are threatening to leave the party over the crisis.
Rising from a meeting on Saturday, supporters of Kabiru Marafa, a former senator and commissioner, issued a statement that they were considering leaving the party due to “lack of transparency within the party.”
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Mr Marafa, who was the 2023 Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Coordinator in the state, joined the party earlier this month. He left the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) after accusing President Bola Tinubu of trying to create confusion in the country’s democratic process.
The ADC is divided into two factions. One is led by Mr Marafa, and the other by a former Inspector-General of Police, Muhammad Abubakar.
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The Marafa’s faction has Surajo Maikatako as state chairman, while Shehu Gulubba is the chairman for the other faction.
Mr Maikatako emerged as the chairman before the other faction held a parallel congress and declared Mr Gulubba as the party chairman.
Mr Maikatako responded by dismissing members of the other faction from the ADC and writing to security agents in the state to intervene.
Marafa associates, loyalists meet
On Saturday, the Marafa Support Group met in Gusau to deliberate on their next move.
The meeting was led by Mr Maikatako and attended by members from all the wards in the state, according to Mr Marafa’s team.
“Malam Aminu Jelani highlighted concerns over alleged lack of transparency within the party and accused certain elements, reportedly linked to factions within the All Progressives Congress (APC), of orchestrating internal disruptions aimed at destabilising the ADC in Zamfara State.
“These actions were intended to undermine Senator Marafa and his supporters,” Mansur Haruna, Mr Marafa’s spokesperson, said in a statement.
“However, stakeholders at the meeting expressed dissatisfaction with recent developments within the ADC, citing what they described as irregularities and external interference that could jeopardise the party’s integrity and cohesion,” Mr Haruna said.
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He said the meeting set up a nine-member committee and mandated it to go to Kaduna to discuss the situation with Mr Marafa and deliberate on the group’s next political direction.
Mr Marafa is not new to party crises. His time in the APC was marked by a protracted dispute with the leadership of the party when Abdulaziz Yari was the state governor.
The legal course he took proved costly for the APC as the courts agreed with him that the party did not conduct proper primaries in the state to elect its candidates for the 2019 general elections.
Even though the APC swept the polls in the state, winning the governorship and all the federal and state legislative seats, the Supreme Court voided the votes cast for its candidates and ordered that the runners-up be declared winners.
