In spite of the endorsement of Alhaji Muktar Idris as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara, the state Deputy Governor, Ibrahim Wakala said he is still in the race.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the APC had zoned the seat to Zamfara central, where the deputy governor and the candidate came from.
The party had also resolved to use indirect primaries in selecting its candidates, but in a twist of events announced Idris, the state Commissioner of Finance as its consensus candidate.
Although the issue has polarised the party, the state Governor Abdulaziz Yari defended the action, saying that the candidate was endorsed by all stakeholders of the party.
In a media chat with journalists in Gusau on Monday, Yari maintained that the decision was a “tradition in the state’s politics of the APC.”
“This, does not however mean that an individual has no right to go on his own and purchase the nomination form.
“As you know, under democratic conditions, everyone can exercise his right, but any of such persons would not have the backing of either the party or the state government, ” he said.
The deputy governor, who had since indicated his intention to contest for governor, however, said he would not back down.
His media aide, Yusuf Idris told NAN that Wakala would pick his nomination form at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja this Monday. (NAN)