Inspired by money accumulated in highly questionable ways, a former Zamfara State Governor, Abdul’Azeez Yari made the contest for Senate leadership of the 10th National Assembly badly competitive with a lot of negative implications to national stability.
Yari, who vied for the office of Senate
President, polled 46 votes, while former Akwa Ibom governor and former
minister, Godswill Akpabio secured 63 votes to win the election.
He had gone against the dictates of the All
Progressives Congress (APC).
The APC had nominated Akpabio for the
position.
Both former governors are currently being
investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Yari had said before the election that he was
sure that 76 senators were on his side.
“I can say there was a betrayal because as we
were taking stock at 3:00 am on Tuesday before the election, we took stock of
over 76 people,” he had said.
“We took into cognizance that there could be
a fall-out of about 15 and we had agreed that if that happens, we would
comfortably still have about 61 people. What we got was the reverse and yes, I
felt betrayed over that outcome.”
A former lawmaker narrated how Yari lobbied
the leadership of opposition political parties and spent billions of Naira on
his aspiration.
He insisted that the former governor was
betrayed by “leadership of some opposition parties.” He added, “In saner
climes, everything should not end with Yari’s loss in the red hallowed chamber
on June 13, 2023. a postmortem of how Yari accumulated the humongous amount of
money he used to cause division along regional and religious lines earning him
the title of ‘rebel leader’ to borrow from Senator Shehu Sani’s succinct
description of his posture is urgent and necessary. Even Akpabio should be
investigated so it won’t be a one way issue.
“Yari started the contest for Senate
President immediately after the declaration of his victory as Senator
representing Zamfara West Senatorial District in February 2023. He particularly
instrumentalised the Lesser Hajj of the last Ramadan (mid-April 2023) to meet
and induce Muslim Senators-elect with mouth-watering bunches of dollars in
Saudi Arabia.
“In Abuja, Yari booked floors of rooms at the
Transcorp Hilton and Continental hotels for the Senators-elect through May and
June 2023 escalating the cost of booking in the two hotels to a record high. It
was widely speculated that Yari bribed new Senators with houses in the Karsana
area of Abuja and was prepared to buy the votes of 60 Senators at 1 million
dollars each.”
“To conclude, now that the game is over,
Yari’s action against consensus should be treated with a strategic outlook to
avoid the threat it poses to national stability in the future.
Investigating the source of Yari’s stupendous
wealth that he deploys to disrupt decency in political engagement is apt and
timely,” another source added.
“A good starting point is retrieving his many
open files since 2007 with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
and thoroughly screening his asset declaration form vis-a-vis his legitimate
ventures.”
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