Yari has sidelined me, Zamfara deputy governor cries out

Ibrahim Wakkala, deputy governor of Zamfara state, says Abdul’Aziz Yari, the governor, has sidelined him.

Speaking with reporters in Gusau, the state capital, on Sunday Wakkala said the governor had denied him his rights and privileges .

“For months now,several of the legal funding that are supposed to be made to my office have been stopped and I have been completely sidelined by the state government,” he said.

“This attitude against me started since I indicated interest to run for the governorship of the state on the platform of our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“I know that nothing stops me as a citizen from contesting for any elective position, so I want those concerned and responsible for the interpretation and implementation of the constitutional provisions that accorded me rights and privileges to explain to me why I am being treated this way.

“If my crime is my declaration, then what about my supporting staff made up of casual staff, feeding of security personnel, fueling and services of vehicles attached to my office, what have they done to have their allowances stopped.”

Yari by-passed his deputy and handed over control of the state to Sanusi Rikiji, speaker of the state assembly, when he travelled out of the state recently.

Wakkala said up till now, it has not been officially communicated to him that the speaker would be serving as acting governor of the state.

He said it was on the pages of newspapers that he realised that Yari decided to frustrate him because of his political ambition.

“I knew this on the pages of newspapers, the social media and when the state commissioner of information told a journalist that I am treated this way because I belong to the G8 group,” he said.

“My concern at the moment, however, is to see that Zamfara is free from all these security challenges where the killings, kidnappings and animal rustling have taken charge.”

Yusuf Idris, the deputy governor’s spokesman, said “the only reason someone else aside from the deputy governor can act in the governor’s absence is when the deputy governor has been impeached, removed from office by the court”.

“None of these is the case at the moment,” he said.

When contacted, Yari told journalists that “my main concern in the state now is how to tackle the security situation and see our people living without any threat to their lives, businesses or property.

“We can only discuss this issue when we begin to talk politics.”

The APC in the state is factionalised between the governor and his supporters and the G8 made up of eight persons including the deputy governor.