Senator dares Gov. Yari to back resignation claims with action

A federal lawmaker, Kabiru Marafa, has called on the Zamfara State Governor, Abdul’aziz Yari, to tender his resignation.

He made the call while speaking to journalists at the State House on Friday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Marafa was at the Villa to brief the president about the security situation in Zamfara.

According to him, the president may be hearing all sort of things from different people and he felt he owes it a duty to go give the president the real situation.

However, while addressing journalists, Mr Marafa was asked to react to the governor’s statement about resigning as the chief security officer of his state.

The lawmaker dared Mr Yari to back up his claims with a proper resignation adding that he would initiate impeachment on the governor if he was a member of the state house of assembly.

“I heap a lot of blame on you the media the way and manner you handled it and number one culprit is the state house of Assembly if I was a member of the State House of Assembly I would have initiated impeachment of the governor because he lacks conscience, then the media ought to have done much more than what they did.

“This is part of the problem we have as a people, when problems happen in other states they tend to be overblown but when they happen in another state nobody cares and Nigeria is supposed to be seen as one country. For a chief executive to come out publicly to say that he has resigned as the chief security officer of a state he or she is supposed to accompany that statement with a resignation.

“You cannot be spending state funds on security and lives and property are not safe. Number one responsibility of any government is protection of lives and property any person that cannot protect the lives of people he superintends he or she is supposed to resign,” he said.

The Zamfara State governor had in June, said he had dropped his responsibility as chief security officer of the state as he had no control over security machinery in the state.

He explained that his decision stemmed from the seeming helplessness of the state government and the people over recurring killings in the state.

He also lamented that it was disheartening that killings in the state had continued in spite of Muhammadu Buhari’s order to security agencies to end the incessant blood-letting across the country.

When asked if he was formally calling on the governor to resign, Mr Marafa said the governor’s conscience and knowledge of the teachings of Islam should prick him to resign.

“I don’t have to call on him to resign, this is something that every Nigerian is supposed to say and if he has conscience and he knows what leadership is all about and if he took the teachings of Islam very seriously he would have resigned in the real essence of the word rather than making mere pronouncements that he has resigned as chief security officer.

“You only take the sunny side of opposition but the ugly side you say you are not responsible when it comes to the money of Zamfara state he is the governor of Zamfara state, when it comes to the protection of lives of the people of the state then it is President Muhammadu Buhari that is responsible,” he explained.

He further questioned the governor’s loyalty to the president as he feared that Mr Yari have been lying to him (the president) and Nigerians.

“When he comes here he tells you that the president is doing very well, when he goes back to the state he says security is not his responsibility but that of the President and he didn’t do it,” he said.

Mr Marafa is one of the contenders for the governorship seat of Zamfara State under the platform of the APC.

He had on June 18 declared his intention to vie for the governorship slot in the state while addressing some party executives in the state.

He said he joined the race due to “numerous calls from members of the party in the 14 local government areas of the state.”

The lawmaker had pledged to fight corruption, injustice and provide the much needed leadership to stimulate the growth and development of the state. He also pledged to provide security as well as look at the state’s legal system to make it conform to the true teachings of Islam for the benefit of all.

Overtime, Mr Mafara, has been the state governor’s political foe, though both men are members of Nigeria’s ruling party, APC.

The state has been ruptured by violence in recent months with armed bandits killing hundreds of people and destroying several houses. Mr Marafa has continuously blamed the state governor, Mr Yari for the high rate of insecurity and poverty in the state.