A former governor of Zamfara State, Abdul Aziz Yari, and Senator Kabiru Garba Mafara, together with their supporters have dumped the All Progressive Congress (APC) for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
This was confirmed by PDP Chairman chairman in the state, Bala Mande when he spoke to reporters in Gusau, on Sunday.
He said the party had received Yari, Marafa, and other key APC members who had defected to the PDP together with their throngs of fans.
“We want to officially announce to you of the joining of our great party, the PDP, by the former Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Abdul Aziz Yari, Senator Kabiru Garba Mafara and their supporters.
“They are now PDP members, we have reached an agreement and we are going to implement the agreement.
“We have agreed to work together as one political entity in one party, the PDP for the success of the party in the State.
“We have also agreed to work extra hard to reclaim the lost mandate of Zamfara State in 2023 and save its people from their present predicament.
“I have given the stakeholders a complete update of where we are as a result of this development,” Mande told reporters.
The news put a stop to speculations about Yari and Marafa defecting from the APC to the PDP.
The two have been at the center of the Zamfara APC’s leadership dispute, which had resulted in the party’s disqualification in the state’s 2015 elections.
The problem was exacerbated when the state’s governor, Bello Matawalle, switched from the PDP to the APC.
This made Marafa and Yari to lose their leadership positions in the Zamfara APC as a result of Matawalle’s defection.
