Shehu Abubakar
8 September 2008
Gusau — Top officials of the ruling All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in Zamfara State have denied reports of reconciliation between former governor of the state, Senator Ahmed Sani Yarima and Governor Mahmuda Aliyu Shinkafi.
The national publicity secretary of the party, Mr Emma Eneukwu was quoted as saying that the former and present governors had been reconciled by the Alhaji Bashir Tofa-led reconciliatory committee of the party.
"The reconciliation was made possible by the efforts mounted on both leaders to bury their differences in order to move the party and Zamfara forward. Both leaders had assured the reconciliation committee of their willingness to reconcile and that there is no known reason for the crisis which could be seen as the handiwork of detractors who wanted to weaken the party in the state," Eneukwu said.
But Zamfara State Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Ibrahim Danmaliki said he was not aware of any reconciliatory meeting held in Abuja between Shinkafi and Yarima at the weekend.
He said he had not been briefed by the governor or any state official on any such meeting. He said it was the habit of the governor to brief his commissioners on any matter of public and government interest that affect the state.
The state secretary of the party and chief of staff to the governor, Alhaji Musa Zubairu said in an earlier interview that only people from the state could reconcile Yarima and Shinkafi.
He said the disagreement between the former and the present governors of the state was a Zamfara State internal matter that could better be addressed by people of the state.
The disagreement between Yarima and Shinkafi started shortly after Yarima handed over the mantle of leadership to Shinkafi as the governor of the state in May 2007.
Since then, over 40 supporters of Yarima were arrested and remanded in Gusau prison custody over flimsy charges for allegedly rallying round him.
When Yarima was contacted for comments at the weekend in his farm at Talatan Mafara, he said he was not going to comment on the issue because the party had asked both parties to keep mute on the matter.
"In addition to the advertisement published by the party warning us not to make public comments on the issue, the party has also served me the same contents of the letter they published in the newspapers. As a loyal party member, I cannot therefore say anything on the issue," he said.
Two chieftains of the party told Daily Trust at the state party secretariat in Gusau yesterday that there was only an informal meeting between Shinkafi and Yarima at the central mosque in Abuja. The party chieftains who spoke on condition of anonymity said the ongoing disagreement between Shinkafi and Yarima was not discussed at the meeting just as the meeting was an informal one.
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