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Tag: Abdulaziz Yari

  • Insecurity: I’m ready to quit as gov – Yari

    *Says insecurity won’t affect elections

     

    The Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, on Thursday said that if declaration of state of emergency in his state will solve the security problems, he is ready to quit as governor.

    He spoke with State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Noting that the security situation in the state has improved, he said the bandits responsible for the insecurity breed their cattle in the forest and strike occasionally.

    Read Also: FRSC targets to make highways more safer in 2019

    He also accused the security agencies especially the police of not doing enough, lamenting that some of the officers that were transferred out of the state after serving three years have not been replaced.

    According to him, the lingering cases of armed banditry in the state won’t affect the forthcoming election.

    While stating that he met the President over the security situation in the state, he said the issue of the armed banditry was being exaggerated.

    “There is no place being occupied by the armed bandits in Zamfara state. They live and operate in the forest. They strike and run. Most of the camps are known by locals,” he said.

    On his support for declaration of emergency in Zamfara, he said he was not playing politics with it, saying ” I’m not playing politics with it. I’m serious about it.”

    Asked whether he discussed the declaration of emergency with Buhari, he said, ” not at all.“

  • Buhari challenges governors on infrastructure development

    President Buhari has challenged state governors to redouble efforts in addressing infrastructure deficiencies in their respective states to revamp the nation’s economy.

    The Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, said the president stated this at a closed door with the 36 State Governors of the federation in Abuja.

    He said: “Mr President, as usual, responded by telling us that the economy is in a bad shape and we have to come together and think and rethink on way forward.

    “So, Mr President talked to us in the manner that we have a task ahead of us. So, we should tighten our belts and see how we can put Nigerian economy in the right direction and how we can address the nation’s infrastructural decay.

    Read Also: Pensioners hail Buhari

    “So, all of us as leaders especially those that are coming to the National Assembly and those coming back as governors and the president who will be re-elected by God grace we should not think that things are going to be easy.

    ”They are going to be harder than before, this was the message of Mr President,’’ he said.

    On the meeting of the National Economic Council, the governor disclosed that the Council deliberated extensively on new ways state governments could generate additional revenues for speedy economic growth and development.

    However, Yari declined to confirm on whether the meeting discussed the issue of the proposed N30,000 minimum wage.

    NAN

  • Osinbajo, governors meet over minimum wage 

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday led the Economic Management Team (EMT) to a closed-doors meeting with representatives of state governors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    At the meeting were the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the Ministers of Labour, Finance, Budget and National Planning, Boss Mustapha, Senator Chris Ngige, Mrs Zainab Ahmed and Udoma Udo Udoma, respectively.

    Read Also:Minimum Wage: Minister updates Buhari, Osinbajo as FG, Governors meet on Monday

    Also at the meeting were the Head of Service to the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, the Director General, National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, Chief Richard Egbule and Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris.

    The Governors at the meeting included the Chairman of Nigeria’s Governors Forum, and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, Osun State, Rauf Aragbesola and Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Ngige had briefed State House correspondents on Friday last week after meeting behind closed-doors with President Muhammadu Buhari had announced that the Economic Management Team would meet on Monday with the Governors to take position on the new minimum wage.

    The Federal Government has insisted on N24, 000 as new minimum wage, the organised labour had on their own maintained that in the last Minimum Wage Negotiation Tripartite Committee, the sum of N30, 000 which the government objected to, claiming that there was no consensus on that.

    Ngige maintained that in fixing the minimum wage, the paramount thing was the ability to pay and that government cannot force employers to pay what they cannot afford.

    But the organised labour has accused the government of playing games with the minimum wage and threatened to embark on strike November 6.

     

    Details Later….

  • Our concern with new minimum wage – NGF

    The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) has reinstated its  concern with new minimum wage, even as it claimed not to be against the upward review of workers pay.

    The chairman of the forum, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara, said the concerns bothers on the ability or resources to pay the agreed minimum wage.

    He disclosed these while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the forum meeting held on Wednesday in Abuja.

    He posited that NGF is not in anyway against the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to get minimum wage reviewed.

    “But, the problem of state is the capacity to pay what is agreed. As we are talking today we are struggling with N18,000. Some of the states are paying 35 per cent, some 50 per cent and still some states have salary arrears,” he said.

    “So, it is not about only reviewing it but how we are going to get the resources to cater for it,” he stressed.

    On the use of London and Paris club refunds, he said that the National President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, was invited to brief the forum on states performance.

    Read Also: NGF hosts states tax officers

    The Federal Government disbursed the fund to states with the condition to use larger percentage of the money to pay workers’ salaries.

    He said while some states had recorded some progress in line with the condition they signed with the Federal Government, others were still owing arrears.

    “So, we invited the National President of NLC to give us details on how some states performed. Some other states that are not up to date, where are they.

    So they have signed Memorandum of Understanding with the NLC at the national level and their representative in states on when they are going to overcome the issue of salary arrears.

    “That has been done and it has been taken to the Central Bank Governor to ensure that those states were also paid.”

    Mr Yari also disclosed that the forum took far reaching decisions on the state of security in the country, he however said that the decisions would be channelled to the right quarters for appropriate actions.

    An update was also received from the NGF Secretariat on Polio and Primary Healthcare Under One Roof.

    He said governors expressed commitment to facilitate the development of a minimum package and investment plan for State Primary Healthcare Boards.

    He added that observations were raised about the issue of PHC, including concern that the function of the local governments was being taken away.

    “It was made clear by some governors that the PHC has nothing to do with the national, that it is just a domestic issue of local governments.

    “Those issues were raised, debated and we are going to put a memo in place to the National Economic Council so that it can be discussed.”

    The forum according to him also received briefing on the forthcoming 24th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) from Mr Laoye Jaiyeola, the Chief Executive Officer of the NES Group.

  • You are free to leave APC, Senator Marafa tells Yari

    Governorship aspirant in Zamfara State and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Kabir Garba Marafa, has said Governor Abdul’aziz Yari is free to leave the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Yari, yesterday, said he has been under intense pressure to defect from the APC with his supporters.

    Yari, who is the chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) said this to State House correspondents, after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja.

    According to him, his supporters were aggrieved over the turnout of events following the party leadership’s refusal to acknowledge alleged primaries conducted last week in the state.

    He also explained that the development has caused frustration among his supporters.

    In his reaction, Marafa, in a personally signed statement, in Abuja, urged the governor to leave APC because “he has accomplished his assignment in the party. Now, he is free to go. I know for a fact that he will meet what he did to the APC in any party he moves into.

    “The Governor is on record as having threatened the APC  National Working Committee panel sent to Zamfara, for the primaries, not to set foot in the state as he could not guarantee their safety and instead, went ahead to conduct the primaries and announced the results; all by himself! He usurped the work of the panel and that of INEC.

    “Let me state it clearly that the agents of destabilisation in the APC are now leaving the party.

    “I have said it before and I repeat it that, all genuine aspirants on the platform of the APC should congregate in a room, lock the door and talk to ourselves. This is the time for us to resolve issues in the party and now that agents of destabilisation are leaving, it is time to sit down and come to a conclusion and move forward.

    “Zamfara will produce candidates  for all elective positions in 2019, anybody who thinks otherwise should discountenance that.  We will resolve all issues among ourselves…”

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had barred the APC from fielding any candidates for the 2019 poll in Zamfara for not conducting primary elections in the state.

  • I’m under pressure to leave APC -Yari

    Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, on Friday said that he has been under intense pressure to defect from the All Progressives Congress (APC) with his supporters.

    Yari, who is the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF)  spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja.

    He also handed over the results of the primaries conducted in the state to the President after the Jumaat prayer.

    He promised that despite the pressure from his people to dump the APC, he will remain with the party and  fight against any injustice.

    According to him, his supporters were aggrieved over the turn out of events following the party leadership’s refusal to acknowledge the primaries conducted last week in the state.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had also barred the APC from fielding any candidates for the 2019 poll in Zamfara for not conducting primary elections in the state.

    He explained that the development has caused frustration among his supporters.

    The governor also warned the national leadership of the party not to present any list that did not emanate from the primaries conducted before the expiration of the deadline for the primaries in the state.

    Reacting to reports of his purported romance with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party on the social media, Yari, who was flanked by the Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, said, “I don’t know whether that is a joke or otherwise.

    “But for me, if you check my history since 1998, APP, and 2002 when Buhari joined ANPP, and 2015 APC, no time that I shifted from one party to another. That is not in my culture. So, the issue of leaving the party is not true.

    “But some other people are sending rumour through the social media. I have seen my picture with the PDP and other parties. Yes, I cannot deny pressure from the people that we should leave APC but what I told them is that what we are looking for is just justice.

    “We conducted election and we want to see what the result is going to look.  But I think for anybody to come under the national secretariat and say he is going to nominate a candidate, I think, it is a very huge joke,” he said .

    The Zamfara State Governor wondered why the INEC could claim that there were no primaries in the state when the government agencies including the Resident Electoral Commissioner ,  the electoral umpire was at hand  to monitor the process in the state.

    He said though there were some hitches in some places in the state that made the committee to postpone primary elections in the  affected areas, the process he said was concluded the next day.

    He said, “There were hitches somewhere but we decided to suspend the area there were problems until the following day. So, the following day, we continued and we concluded the election by the people nominated by that committee to conduct election but the committee ran away and refused to collate the results.

    “So, what we did was that we filed the results and kept it under the watch of those people and waited to see what was going to happen. The second committee waited 32 hours to the closing, we thought the committee would hasten and come up with modalities for the election.

     

     

  • I’m under pressure to leave APC – Yari

    *Insists primaries held in Zamfara

    *Says it’s a huge joke to nominate Zamfara Gov candidate from Abuja

     

    Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, on Friday said that he has been under intense pressure to defect from the All Progressives Congress (APC) with his supporters.

    Yari, who is the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja.

    He also handed over the results of the primaries conducted in the state to the President after the Jumaat prayer.

    He promised that despite the pressure from his people to dump the APC, he will remain with the party and fight against any injustice.

    According to him, his supporters were aggrieved over the turn out of events following the party leadership’s refusal to acknowledge the primaries conducted last week in the state.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had also barred the APC from fielding any candidates for the 2019 poll in Zamfara for not conducting primary elections in the state.

    He explained that the development has caused frustration among his supporters.

    The governor also warned the national leadership of the party not to present any list that did not emanate from the primaries conducted before the expiration of the deadline for the primaries in the state.

    Reacting to reports of his purported romance with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party on the social media, Yari, who was flanked by the Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, said, “I don’t know whether that is a joke or otherwise.

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    “But for me, if you check my history since 1998, APP, and 2002 when Buhari joined ANPP, and 2015 APC, no time that I shifted from one party to another. That is not in my culture. So, the issue of leaving the party is not true.

    “But some other people are sending rumour through the social media. I have seen my picture with the PDP and other parties. Yes, I cannot deny pressure from the people that we should leave APC but what I told them is that what we are looking for is just justice.

    “We conducted election and we want to see what the result is going to look. But I think for any body to come under the national secretariat and say he is going to nominate a candidate, I think, it is a very huge joke.” he said

    The Zamfara State Governor wondered why the INEC could claim that there were no primaries in the state when the government agencies including the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the electoral umpire was at hand to monitor the process in the state.

    He said though there were some hitches in some places in the state that made the committee to postpone primary elections in the affected areas, the process he said was concluded the next day.

    He said, “There were hitches somewhere but we decided to suspend the area there were problems until the following day. So, the following day, we continued and we concluded the election by the people nominated by that committee to conduct election but the committee ran away and refused to collate the results.

    “So, what we did was that we filed the results and kept it under the watch of those people and waited to see what was going to happen. The second committee waited 32 hours to the closing, we thought the committee will hasten and come up with modalities for the election.

    “But committee wasted about 18 hours discussing about how the modalities were going to be. So, when we realised that, we were actually advised by the supervisory agency that is INEC and other agencies there that the best thing to do as the people had voted and since it was 7am was to start counting.

    “When they finished, they released the materials and we adopted the numbers. Already, we had produced our own set of forms for the national Assembly which we have done and then, when we concluded, I didn’t see members of the committee until one and half hours to the time.

    “Then, when they came I asked them what they came for, they said they came for reconciliation and I said which reconciliation? People can not reconcile over a month and you are trying to reconcile in an hour. Then, I realised that there was a game that was being played so that we can run out of time.” he said

    According to him, the national body of APC had other crude ways to produce candidates contrary to section 87 of the Electoral Act that the party must follow a process before producing any candidate.

    “Therefore, the most important is that we conducted election on the 3rd and 4th of October and all agencies, INEC, Civil Defence, Police, and DSS were there and they signed for us and the report was written by the REC that elections were conducted.

    “Unfortunately, for the INEC to say that there was no election, we don’t know where they got their information but we believe they have a report directly from their representative there that election was held in Zamfara state, so, it depends on what they want to do.

    “But, in any way, we were advised when the chairman of the committee came out and said there was no election in Zamfara state, we realised it was going to be a litigation issue. We quickly rushed to court, we filed a case and the case is coming up next week.

    “So, I think that is the only saving grace for the party and INEC for court of competent jurisdiction to give judgement on Zamfara matter that there was election.” he stated.

  • Zamfara APC crisis persists

    A front line All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Zamfara State, Senator Kabiru Marafa, yesterday described the call by Governor Abdulaziz Yari  to members of the APC in the state to conduct the primary election by themselves as an invitation to anarchy.

    Marafa said Yari told reporters  in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital that all party faithful in the state should conduct the primaries by themselves to beat INEC deadline of midnight.

    Marafa in a statement noted that asking the party members to conduct the primaries without moderators from the national secretariat of APC would lead to anarchy.

    He said, “It is unfortunate that the Governor after deliberately frustrating the conduct of the exercise will now be asking the people to conduct the exercise themselves. This is an invitation to anarchy and we will never be part of any illegality, aimed at pushing the state into anarchy. ”

    Marafa said on Wednesday after Governor Yari allegedly threatened that there would be bloodbath in Zamfara, five innocent persons were killed and many more wounded by Yaris boys, and the culprits are still working freely.

    ” it is  against this background that I’m calling on the national Headquarters of our party to invoke the relevant sections of the party constitution to disqualify Yari and his co travellers to serve as a deterrent to others, ” he said.

    He urged the members of the party not to listen to the Governor, saying Yari was only interested  in looted the resources  of the state and not it’s people or their welfare and wellbeing.

  • APC Senatorial Primary: Shehu Sani, Akpabio, Yari, Uduaghan cleared unopposed

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has cleared unopposed former Akwa Ibom and Delta State Governors, Senator Godswill Akpabio and Dr, Emmanuel Uduaghan and the Senator representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani as Senatorial candidates for the forthcoming general elections.

    Also cleared unopposed are Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, Senate Minority Whip, Senator Francis Alimikhena, former Nasarawa State Governor, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, former Sokoto state Governor, Aliyu Magatakarda Wammako, former Benue state Governor, George Akume and former National, Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Adebayo Adeyeye.

    Also, the three senators representing Lagos state, Senators Oluremi Tinubu, Solomon Adeola and Gbenga Ashafa as well as Senator Ajayi Boroface, Yele Onogunwa and Omotoyao Alasoadura from Ondo are flying the party flag unopposed as they emerged the only cleared aspirants from their states.

    Senator Ahmed Abubakar, Senator Binta Masi Garba (Adamawa) Senator Yusuf Abubakar (Taraba), Governor Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe), Senator Tijanni Kaura, Ikra Bilbis (Zamfara), Senator Buhari Abdulfatai (Oyo), Senator Andy Uba (Anambra) and Suleiman Abdu Kwari (Kaduna) are also running unopposed.

    In the list of cleared aspirants released by the National Working Committee and signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, former Kano state Governor is to battle for the Kano Central Senatorial ticket with Hajia Laila Buhari, while Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun is to struggle for the Ogun Central Senatorial ticket with Senator Adeyemi Tejuosho and Ganiyat Oladunjoye.

    Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi is to contest for the Oyo Central Senatorial district ticket with Senator Taslim Folarin and five others, Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura is to slug it out for the Nasarawa south ticket with Senator Salihu Hussein Egye, while Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima is contesting the Borno Central ticket with Ali Bukar Wurge.
    Also, Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan is contesting the Yobe North Senatorial ticket with Mohammed Lawan Yahuza, while Imo state Governor; Rochas Okorocha is listed as contesting the Imo West ticket with Senator Hope Uzodinma who is also contesting the governorship of the state.

    However, two former governors who have been in the senate for a long time, Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima of Zamfara State and Bukar Abba Ibrahim (Yobe) were conspicuously missing on the list and it was not clear whether they were screened out of the contest or decided not to return to the Senate.
    The National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has said at different fora that it will be ungodly for the party not to reward loyal senators who stood by the party in its trying period, resisting all attempt to lure them away from the APC.

  • APC: Eight guber aspirants adopt direct primaries in Zamfara

    A total of eight front line governorship aspirants in Zamfara State including the Deputy Governor, Ibrahim Wakala and a former governor, Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi have adopted direct primaries for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The aspirants urged the national leadership of APC to appoint a caretaker committee for the state.

    The aspirants at the end of an emergency meeting held in Abuja also threw their weights behind the suit instituted by the faction of the Senator Kabir Garba Marafa of the party against the faction of the state governor, Abdul’aziz Yari.

    A resolution by the aspirants including Senator Kabir Garba Marafa, Minster of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, Rep Aminu Sani Jaji, Engineer Abu Magaji, Dauda Lawal and Mohammed Sagir Hamidu, endorsed the court case challenging the legality of the May 2018 congress of the APC in Zamfara State.

    The aspirants resolved to abide by the court order of the Federal High Court (10), Abuja which directed that both Yari and Marafa factions “should maintain the status quo and should not take any steps that would render nugatory the subject matter of the litigation”.

    They insisted that only the conduct of direct Primaries in the State would demonstrate obedience to the directive given by the Federal High Court, Abuja.

    Read Also: PDP vote buying mechanism, a threat to democracy says APC

    The resolution signed by the aspirants reads: “That the National leadership of the Party ought to have involved the members of the G8 Governorship aspirants in the recruitment of the Ward, Local Government and State electoral organizing Committee members for the conduct of the direct Primaries in the State.

    ” That the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC is hereby urged to choose the course for a peaceful, free and successful APC Primaries and general elections in Zamfara State.

    “That the NWC approves and communicate to all Parties concerned that the direct mode of primaries has been decided for Zamfara State APC under the guidance of a caretaker committee especially appointed for the State until the Court case is finally determined.

    “The common resolutions of the 8 Governorship aspirants should be communicated to the Attorney for further transmission of these resolutions to the APC National Working Committee. A copy of the letter of complaint of G7 also is attached for reference and action by the lawyers.”