Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar says he while he welcomes measures by the Federal Government to put an end to the loss of lives and property in Zamfara and Katsina, the alleged plan to impose emergency rule was a ploy by the Buhari government to capture the state during the 2019 election.
Reacting to the call by Governor Abdul-Aziz Yari for the imposition of a State of Emergency in Zamfara State, Atiku in a statement on Thursday by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, said that a fundamental solution must be sought to the crisis to ensure lasting peace.
The statement noted that the deal being struck between the federal government and the Governors of Zamfara and Katsina States reflects the desperation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led FG to ”capture” the states at all cost during next month’s general elections.
”The deal, cut at a meeting in the presidential villa in Abuja is simple: The FG will impose a state of emergency in Zamfara, to provide a window for APC to field a candidate for the governorship election in the state having failed to do so within the time frame stipulated by the Commission,” Shaibu said.
Atiku said the implication of the plot is that even President Buhari, for all his sweet words on ensuring free and fair elections and avoiding unethical measures to win at all cost, is ready to do anything just to ”capture” Zamfara and Katsina States for his party.
Atiku added that although the plot is meant to put his party at a disadvantage, PDP would not lose any sleep over the ignoble deal, since the battle to rescue Nigeria from incompetence and bad leadership will be fought by the people themselves and not by the Governor of Zamfara or President Buhari’s hatchet men.
The statement said the State of Emergency will simply result in more militarization of the affected areas, more road blocks and the constriction of the civil liberties of the people, adding that unless legitimate and more far-reaching measures are adopted for common good, the perpetrators of the crisis will simply leave the affected areas and move to other areas to continue their dastardly act.
He called on Governor Yari to resign since he has confessed to his failure to protect the security of lives and property of the people of the state.
”In other climes, Governor Yari would have gone ahead to address the people of Zamfara State who elected him into office to let them know that he is incapable of protecting them, instead of merely calling on the President to declare a state of emergency in the state. There is no need for any expanded argument or unnecessary debate on what is apt at this moment.
“Heavens will not fall if Governor Yari resigns, since he won’t be the first governor to do so, as Robert J. Walker,Governor of Kansas in the USA resigned as far back as 1857 under similar circumstance after confessing to his inability to preserve the peace or promote public welfare of his people”, the statement concluded.
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