“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks” ~Winston Churchill
It was on Sunday, a former senator from Zamfara state, Kabiru Marafa, was questioning the legitimacy of Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe state to preside over the affairs of the All Progressives Congress (APC) while serving as governor.
Marafa said Buni cannot operate as a governor and at the same time chairman of the party.
He forgot that Buni is chairman, APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), which was constituted in 2020 after the exit of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC), and not elected.
He said he will challenge the legality of the committee and Buni’s appointment as chairman in court.
It’s annoying to hear an APC chieftain like Kabiru Marafa making irresponsible statements like, “Buni looked for my trouble and I will give him ten times of that”. The question is whether Marafa is fighting for the interest of the party and the country or his selfish interest.
I feel sad that Kabiru Marafa could belittle and embarrass Buni, saying he and Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna states made him APC national secretary some years ago.
As a young person, I think any responsible and mature person will never recall the favours done to someone in the past, which is also against the teachings of Islam.
I was happy that Buni’s spokesman, Mamman Mohammed, dismissed Marafa’s statement as “an empty ranting of an ant;” Winston Churchill has said it all.
He noted that the criticism of his boss by the party chieftain (Marafa) is an outburst from the latter’s loss at the last congress in Zamfara state.
Mamman said that Marafa described the Zamfara congress as an illegality after participating, noting that if he was in doubt of the party’s leadership, why did he obey its directives?
I agree with Buni’s spokesman that Marafa is only complaining now because his camp lost at the congress. He wouldn’t have been ranting if he had won.
It appears Kabiru Marafa is colluding with the current leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) towards the failure of APC in Zamfara just as he did to in the 2019 general elections. This is evident when he said, “I don’t give a damn if APC loses in Zamfara”.
He was also accused by a former governor of Zamfara state, Abdulaziz Yari, to have nominated some key officials serving in the administration of Governor Bello Matawalle after he became the governor of the state.
Yari had earlier said he expressed his readiness to reconcile with aggrieved APC members in the state, but that such efforts would fail because many of those against him were Marafa’s candidates and were currently serving in the PDP-led administration in the state when the incumbent governor was in PDP.
The former governor had also said, shortly after meeting with the Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee at the national secretariat in Abuja that, “We are to reconcile with everyone. But a situation where you are going to reconcile with somebody who already has members in the government of the state cannot work. He (Marafa) has the secretary to the dtate government; he has commissioners and he has everyone there.”
It could also be that the statement by Babajide Otitoju of TVC News that his friends in PDP told him that Buni is the most dangerous person alive. You don’t see him talking, he hardly talks, but he has switch intelligence and he’s winning their people to APC. And that is why I insist that it’s the PDP that is sponsoring Marafa to destroy APC. It is not surprising as I saw someone commented on Facebook saying that “He is working for us and doing very well, we first have disorganised the top towards 2023”
I want to tell Marafa that in terms of human relations, Buni is far better than him and he is quite different and unique as he’s busy silencing critics and bringing developmental projects in his state as well as building the APC.
Have you forgotten that two national dailies (Leadership and Blueprint newspapers) recently bestowed awards on Buni as National Politician of the year?
It’s obvious that time does not change people, time reveals the real face of people and my belief is that, excellent work must always be recognised as such.
In conclusion, I blame the leadership of APC in Zamfara state for not suspending Kabiru Marafa from the party for causing more harm than good.
Abdulmumin Kolo Gulani,Maiduguri, Borno state
