Abdul'aziz Abubakar Yari

Last updated

Abdul'aziz Abubakar Yari
Senator for Zamfara West
Assuming office
13 June 2023

Alhaji Abdul'aziz Abubakar Yari (born 28 January 1968) is a Nigerian politician who was elected Governor of Zamfara State in the 26 April 2011 national election, running on the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) platform. Following the merger of the ANPP and several other opposition parties into the now-governing All Progressives Congress, Yari became a member of the All Progressives Congress. [1]

Contents

Education

He attended Talata Mafara Township Primary School, then proceeded to Government Teacher's College in Bakura from 1979 to 1984. He finished his tertiary education at Sokoto Polytechnic from 1991 to 1994 where he obtained a certificate and later a Diploma in Secretarial Studies in 2004. He also attended Kebbi Polytechnic for a Graduate Diploma in Public Administration in 2008. [2]

Political career

Yari began his political career in 1999 when he served as the Secretary of the then All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) between 1999 and 2003. He was elected Chairman of ANPP Zamfara State in 2003 and later rose to the position of ANPP National Financial Secretary and served in this position till 2007 when he was elected as Member representing Anka/Talata Mafara Federal Constituency from 2007 to 2011.

On April 26, 2011, Abdul-aziz Yari Abubakar was elected Governor of Zamfara State on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party(ANPP).

Again in the 2015 gubernatorial elections, he was re-elected as Governor under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

On May 18, 2015, Honorable Yari's colleagues in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum unanimously elected him as their Chairman, succeeding Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. [3]

In addition, when Zamfara State Governor Mahmud Shinkafi defected to the PDP in January 2009, taking the ANPP's state executive committee with him, the ANPP's National Headquarters in Abuja was forced to create a Caretaker Committee headed by Yari. The committee's tenure was repeatedly extended. [4]

Yari was elected Governor of Zamfara State, Nigeria in the 26 April 2011 national elections, running on the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) platform. Similarly, Yari is the son-in-law of incumbent Governor Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), whom he defeated in the election by 514,962 votes to Shinkafi's 460,656 votes. [5] He said concerning the 2019 election that it is time to repay Buhari's bailout gesture. [6]

Senate race (2019)

As his term of office as governor of Zamfara State drew to a close Yari ran for the Zamfara West senate seat and won with a very wide margin [7] [8] on the platform of the ruling APC. But his election and other APC candidates in the 2019 general election in Zamfara State were nullified by the Supreme Court on the ground that they were not validly nominated through party primaries. [9] [10] The court ordered INEC to declare candidates who were the second runner-up in the elections winners. Senator Kabiru Marafa, a member of APC who was running for governorship tick of the APC had complained that APC did not conduct primaries in Zamfara and asked the court to invalidate the primaries purportedly conducted by the leader of the party Yari of the APC. [11] [12] [13]

Yari was named the chairman, Senate committee on water resources of the 10th senate on 8 August 2023. [14]

Corruption allegations

Projects Verification Committee reports

Yari's successor, Bello Matawalle, created the Zamfara State Project Verification Committee led by Ahmad Zabarma to probe projects under Yari's governorship. In February 2020, at the Committee interim report press conference, Zabarma announced that the Yari administration had spent a suspiciously inflated amount on incomplete or yet-to-be-started projects. Zabarma claimed ₦3 billion was spent on the ongoing Zamfara State University project and ₦70 billion was spent on the House of Assembly renovation despite the University being only 30% completed and the House of Assembly renovation having not started at all. Zabarma also stated that ₦35 million was not refunded to Hajj pilgrims who could not be airlifted in 2012, over 1,000 vehicles belonging to the State Government (65% of its total vehicles) were missing after Yari left office, and ₦8.4 billion of state money was spent by Yari on exotic cars for associates and family along with several other cases of alleged corrupt practices using feeding programs, schools, water supply, and other projects. [15] [16] [17] Yari claimed political persecution by his successor, Matawalle, against himself and the Zamfara APC. [18]

The Project Verification Committee released its final report in late September which Matawalle claimed showed that Yari's administration had stole over ₦107 billion from the state. [19] In early October, Matawalle set up a Commission of Inquiry to further probe the Yari administration. [20] [21]

Federal Project Refund scandal

After Yari left office, his successor, Bello Matawalle announced investigations into allegations of corruption during Yari's administration. In September 2020, Matawalle's Finance Commissioner Rabiu Garba claimed Yari and an associate diverted ₦37 billion in refunds on federal projects away from state government coffers. Yari's Finance Commissioner Muktar Idris denied the accusation and claimed that the money was used on building roads. [22] [23]

EFAB Properties wire transfer

In February 2021, the Peoples Gazette reported that on the day before Yari left the Governor's office, he wired ₦350 million to EFAB Properties Limited, a real estate developer based in Abuja. The EFAB account is also linked to Fabian Nwaora, a public works contractor and real estate developer. The report quoted anonymous EFCC officials who claimed the commission was investigating numerous last-minute transfers by Yari, but had not seen the EFAB Properties transfer. The report also claimed that Yari was so notoriously corrupt that he was nicknamed the "loaded governor" by officials at the Nigerian Governors’ Forum which Yari chaired. [24]

EFCC investigations and arrests

In February and April 2021, Yari was detained and interrogated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in connection with around ₦300 billions he attempted to move from a corporate bank account. In the invitation letter sent to Yari to summon him for the April interrogation, the EFCC Director of Operations, Abdulkarim Chukkol, stated "conspiracy, diversion of public funds and money laundering" as the grounds for the interview. Sahara Reporters reported that the EFCC is also investigating Yari in connection with the alleged Paris Club refund corruption case involving the Central Bank of Nigeria, Attorney-General Abubakar Malami, Chief of Staff to the President Ibrahim Gambari, and former Representative Ned Nwoko. [25]

ICPC investigations and seizures

The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission also accused Yari of corruption, specifically embezzling money from the Zamfara State treasury. In January 2021, Yari lost a court case that approved the seizure of $669,248 and over ₦24.3 million from him with the judge siding with the ICPC's argument that Yari was unable to explain the sources of the funds and thus the money was subject to forfeiture. [26]

In February 2022, the ICPC won another case against Yari, this time for the interim forfeiture of 10 properties in Abuja, Kaduna, and Zamfara State along with Maryland in the United States of America. The judge stated that the interim order would last 60 days while the ICPC investigated further with the hearing on final forfeiture scheduled for April 28. [27]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zamfara State</span> State of Nigeria

Zamfara is a state in northwestern Nigeria. The capital of Zamfara state is Gusau and its current governor is Dauda Lawal. Until 1996, the area was part of Sokoto State.

Sahabi Alhaji Yaú is a Nigerian politician who was elected Senator in 2007 on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party to represent Zamfara North district of Zamfara State.

Hassan Muhammad Gusau, known as Hassan Nasiha, is a Nigerian politician who served as deputy governor of Zamfara State from 2022 to 2023. He took office in 2022 following the impeachment of Mahdi Mohammed Gusau. He was appointed deputy governor by Governor Bello Matawalle after Mahdi Mohammed Gusau was impeached by the Zamfara State House of Assembly on 23 February 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawali Shuaibu</span> Nigerian politician (born 1955)

Lawali Shuaibu is a Nigerian politician who was elected senator for the Zamfara North Senatorial District of Zamfara State, Nigeria at the start of the Nigerian Fourth Republic, running on the All People's Party (APP) platform. He took office on 29 May 1999. He was re-elected on the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) platform in 2003 to a second term of four years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kabir Garba Marafa</span> Nigerian politician (born 1960)

Kabir Garba Marafa,, is a Nigerian politician and a former senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who represented Zamfara Central senatorial district in the 7th and the 8th Nigerian senate, and served as the Chairman of the senate joint committee on petroleum resources. He is a member of All Progressive Congress (APC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">$2 billion arms deal</span> Arms procurement deal in Nigeria

The $2 billion arms deal or Dasukigate is an arms procurement deal in Nigeria that resulted in the embezzlement of $2 billion through the office of the National Security Adviser under the leadership of Colonel Sambo Dasuki, the former National Security Adviser. The illegal deal was revealed following an interim report of the presidential investigations committee on arms procurement under the Goodluck Jonathan administration. The committee report showed an extra-budgetary spending to the tune of N643.8 billion and an additional spending of about $2.2 billion in the foreign currency component under the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Dauda Lawal is a Nigerian banker and politician who is the governor of Zamfara state. He was elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 Nigerian gubernatorial elections defeating the incumbent Governor Bello Matawalle of the APC.

Mukhtar Shehu Idris is a Nigerian administrator and politician. He was the Governor-elect of Zamfara State in the 2019 gubernatorial election under the platform of All Progressive Congress (APC). Five days to his inauguration as governor of Zamfara State the Supreme Court annulled the election of Idris and all APC candidates in the 2019 elections and ordered Independent National Electoral Commission to declare all first runners in the election who satisfied the requirements of the law winners of the polls. His major challenger for the nomination of the APC for the governorship election in the state, Kabir Marafa [marafan gusau] had gone to court on the ground that APC in Zamfara did not conduct primaries and prayed the court to disqualify all candidates of the party in the 2019 polls. Opposition People's Democratic Party candidates who lost at the polls were declared winners and became the major beneficiaries of the crisis in the APC. In January 2020, APC approached the Supreme Court for review of its earlier judgment but in a ruling on the 27 of March, 2020 the court declined a review of its own judgment which it said it is final and bidding on all parties in the case.

Bello Muhammad popularly known as Bello Matawalle is a Nigerian politician and teacher who has served as the minister of state for defence since 2023. He previously served as the governor of Zamfara State from 2019 to 2023.

Zamfara State University is a public higher learning institution located in Talata Mafara, Zamfara State, Nigeria. It was established in 2018. The university was founded and established in 2018 by the then Ex-governor of Zamfara State, Abdul'aziz Yari for the expansion of higher learning education in the state.

Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, is a Nigerian politician and the current honorary special adviser on inter-governmental affairs to the governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle. He previously served as the national secretary of All Progressives Grand Alliance.

The 2019 Zamfara State gubernatorial election occurred on 9 March 2019. APC's Mukhtar Shehu Idris polled 67.41% of the total popular votes, defeating PDP's Bello Matawalle who got 23.89% of the total votes and trailed behind by a margin of 345,089 votes, and several minor party candidates. APC swept the entire 14 LGAs of the state, winning in all. It was, however, Matawalle, who was later declared winner by the INEC and sworn in as governor after the verdict of the Supreme Court, which declared Idris' votes as 'wasted'.

The 2023 Zamfara State gubernatorial election will take place on 18 March 2023, to elect the Governor of Zamfara State, concurrent with elections to the Zamfara State House of Assembly as well as twenty-seven other gubernatorial elections and elections to all other state houses of assembly. The election—which was postponed from its original 11 March date—was held three weeks after the presidential election and National Assembly elections. Incumbent APC Governor Bello Matawalle has been renominated by his party and was defeated by Dauda Lawal of PDP on 18th of March 2023.

The 2019 Nigerian Senate election in Zamfara State was held on February 23, 2019, to elect members of the Nigerian Senate to represent Zamfara State. Abdul'aziz Abubakar Yari representing Zamfara West, Aliyu Ikra Bilbis representing Zamfara Central and Tijjani Yahaya Kaura representing Zamfara North all won on the platform of All Progressives Congress. But the Supreme Court of Nigeria on 24 May 2019 sacked all the candidates of the All Progressives Congress that won elections in Zamfara State and said that candidates of parties with the highest number of valid votes cast with the required spread stands elected. Lawali Hassan Anka representing Zamfara West, Hassan Muhammed Gusau representing Zamfara Central and Sahabi Alhaji Yaú representing Zamfara North all on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party replaced the sacked senators.

The 2019 Nigerian House of Representatives elections in Zamfara State was held on February 23, 2019, to elect members of the House of Representatives to represent Zamfara State, Nigeria. The All Progressives Congress won all seats but the Supreme Court nullified the elections of all the candidates of the APC in the elections. The court ruled that the APC did not conduct valid primaries in the build-up to the elections. A unanimous judgement by a five-member panel of Judges decided that the party had no valid candidate and cannot be said to have won the general elections.

The 2019 Zamfara State House of Assembly election was held on March 9, 2019, to elect members of the Zamfara State House of Assembly in Nigeria. All the 24 seats were up for election in the Zamfara State House of Assembly.

Muhammad Ahmad was a Nigerian politician from the All Progressives Congress. He represented Shinkafi on the Zamfara State House of Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Nigerian presidential election in Zamfara State</span>

The 2023 Nigerian presidential election in Zamfara State will be held on 25 February 2023 as part of the nationwide 2023 Nigerian presidential election to elect the president and vice president of Nigeria. Other federal elections, including elections to the House of Representatives and the Senate, will also be held on the same date while state elections will be held two weeks afterward on 11 March.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Nigerian Senate elections in Zamfara State</span> 2023 Senate elections in Zamfara

The 2023 Nigerian Senate elections in Zamfara State will be held on 25 February 2023, to elect the 3 federal Senators from Zamfara State, one from each of the state's three senatorial districts. The elections will coincide with the 2023 presidential election, as well as other elections to the Senate and elections to the House of Representatives; with state elections being held two weeks later. Primaries were held between 4 April and 9 June 2022.

References

  1. ↑ Sahara Reporters (16 June 2018). "Zamfara Governor Resigns As Chief Security Officer Of State". Sahara Reporters . New York. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  2. ↑ "The Chairman Nigeria Governors' Forum". Nigeria Governors' Forum. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  3. ↑ Muhammad Sabiu (18 September 2010). "2011: As Opposition Changes Face In Zamfara". Nigerian Tribune. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  4. ↑ Muhammed Sabiu (16 May 2010). "Zamfara ANPP and its divided house". Sunday Tribune. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  5. ↑ Bunmi Awolusi (29 April 2011). "Kaduna, Bauchi hold peaceful elections". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 May 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  6. ↑ Television, Oak (23 January 2019). "2019 Presidency: Time to repay Buhari's bailout gesture, says Gov. Abdulaziz Yari". Oak TV. oak tv. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  7. ↑ Erezi, Dennis (10 September 2018). "Zamfara governor Yari declares to run for Senate". The Guardian . Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  8. ↑ Talata-Mafara (25 February 2019). "Abdula'ziz Yari wins Zamfara West Senate Seat". Vanguard . Zamfara. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  9. ↑ Adesomoju, Ade. "Supreme Court nullifies APC candidates' elections, declares PDP winner of Zamfara polls". The Punch . Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  10. ↑ Alade, Abiodun (24 May 2019). "Supreme Court sacks Governor-elect, Yari, others as PDP set to take over Zamfara + VIDEO". Daily Trust . Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  11. ↑ Our Correspondent (1 April 2019). "APC Senator Marafa Insists Party Didn't Conduct Primaries In Zamfara". Independent Nigeria . Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  12. ↑ Ailemen, Tony. "APC did not Conduct primaries in Zamfara – Marafa insists". Business Day . Abuja. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  13. ↑ Elumoye, Deji (25 March 2019). "Zamfara APC Primaries: Appeal Court Has Vindicated Me, Says Marafa". ThisDay . Abuja. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  14. ↑ "Lawan, Yari, Tambuwal, Oshiomhole, Sani Musa, Others Emerge Senate Committee Chairmen - THISDAYLIVE". www.thisdaylive.com. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  15. ↑ News Agency of Nigeria (12 February 2020). "Zamfara ex-Gov, Yari expends N3bn on state university project ―Committee". Vanguard (Press release). Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  16. ↑ News Agency of Nigeria (12 February 2020). "Yari expends N3 billion on state university project – Committee". Pulse Nigeria (Press release). Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  17. ↑ Hassan, Maryam (11 February 2020). "Matawalle uncovers 100 exotic cars worth N8.4bn allegedly diverted by Yari in Zamfara". Daily Nigerian . Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  18. ↑ Abuh, Adamu (25 September 2020). "Yari kicks over alleged political witch-hunt, indictment over misuse of N90 billion". The Guardian . Abuja. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  19. ↑ Oluwasanjo, Ahmed (1 October 2020). "How Yari stole N107 billion from Zamfara State: Gov. Matawalle". Peoples Gazette . Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  20. ↑ Kwaifa, Aliyu (2 October 2020). "Matawalle Sets Up Inquiry Panel Over N107bn Contracts". Daily Trust . Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  21. ↑ Abdulaziz, Abdulaziz (1 October 2020). "N107bn: Zamfara sets up panel to probe ex-governor Yari over alleged misappropriation". Premium Times . Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  22. ↑ News Agency of Nigeria (23 September 2020). "How Yari, girlfriend mismanaged N37bn federal project refund: Zamfara govt". Peoples Gazette . Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  23. ↑ Agency Report. "Zamfara govt, ex-gov Yari disagree over N37 billion FG refund". Premium Times . Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  24. ↑ Princewill, Nimi (4 February 2021). "EXCLUSIVE: Bank documents expose how ex-Zamfara Governor Yari wired N350m to EFAB Estate hours before leaving office". Peoples Gazette. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  25. ↑ Sahara Reporters (26 April 2021). "EXPOSED: Real Reasons Why Ex-Zamfara Governor, Yari Was Detained, Grilled For Seven Hours By EFCC". Sahara Reporters . New York. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  26. ↑ Olabimtan, Bolanle (26 January 2021). "Court orders final forfeiture of $669,248 linked to Yari". TheCable . Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  27. ↑ Olabimtan, Bolanle (23 February 2022). "Court orders interim forfeiture of 10 properties linked to Yari". TheCable . Retrieved 24 February 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.