Marafa tells Oshiomhole to emulate Buhari, avoid lies

This, according to Marafa, is the only way Oshiomhole can maintain his status as a comrade and leader of the ruling party.

Marafa gave the charge while reacting to a comment credited to the APC national chairman that there was a governorship primary election in Zamfara state prior to the March 9, 2019 polls.

The Zamfara lawmaker who was also a governorship aspirant in the state maintained that there was no governorship primary election in the state.

"It's quite unfortunate and disheartening to watch the hitherto respected comrade rubbishing his hard earned name before the whole world," Marafa said in a statement in reaction to Oshiomhole's claims on ChannelsTV's programme, Hard Copy.

"Chief Oshiomhole performed creditably well during the party primaries, he led the party aright to the admiration of all, including those in the opposition parties. He aligned himself with the masses, against some state governors who assumed the position of the Almighty in their respective states. Why do you want change, my comrade?," the lawmaker queried.

He admonished Oshiomhole not to give in to the pressure from some politicians that will push him to change his posture.

Marafa, who chairs the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), accused Governor Abdulaziz Yari of threatening to disrupt the Zamfara governorship primary election.

"What Oshiomhole said was nothing but a wicked lie that can neither stand moral nor legal scrutiny.

"Records and documentary evidences are abound everywhere that APC did not conduct primaries in Zamfara state, due to the attitude of the state governor who threatened publicly to send Oshiomole to the graveyard if he dares him. 

"Oshiomhole at the peak of the controversy affirmed the fact that, no primaries was conducted in the media, his famous video of 'primaries are to be conducted not by state governments nor by state party chairmen but by the panels sent by the party's NWC,' is still very much available on the net. 

"Equally available is INEC's letter to him (Chief Oshiomhole) that they receive reports from their local office in Gusau that APC didn't conduct valid primaries as at 12:am Sunday 7th October 2019. It was based on this fact that INEC said it wasn't expecting candidates from (APC) and you Chief Oshiomhole responded by accepting the fact that APC didn't conduct primaries but you did consensus! A simple google search will amplify these facts.

"Let me also remind you, Chief, that Yari sat in company of his state factional chairman of the APC and announced the results of his primaries live on channels television, the video is still very much available on the net.

"It’s not only shocking but unbelievable that our comrade chairman, likable by all will change his narrations at the tail end of the match. This is a minus to the Comrade that i have known to be a respecter of rules and facts," he said.

Marafa who has since taken legal actions against the APC leadership in Zamfara noted that his decision was due to the effect of bad governance in the state.

"My quest to seek for legal redress was to correct the anomalies in our state for the benefit of our people. This thing is beyond me or Yari or even the APC. It's for our people who bear the brunt of bad governance at the state level.

"It may interest you, Mr Oshiomhole, to know that as I'm writing this to you more than 75 percent of the people of Zamfara are not sleeping in their houses at nights. There is an estimated over 200,000 orphans, 60,000 widows, about 5,000 raped victims, about 5000 abducted persons and unknown number of refugees in Zamfara state. Haba!," Marafa exclaimed.

He urged the party to show more concern about the security of lives and properties of people than the number of APC lawmakers and governors.

Meanwhile, the court has since nullified the APC governorship primary election in Zamfara state.