Fact have emerged of how the Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, stopped the confirmation of his state’s nominee, Alhaji Ahmed Bello Mahmud, by the Senate as a Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The Senate has resolved to revisit the rejection.
It has thus directed its Committee on INEC to reconsider his nomination and report back within a week.
In a document obtained by our correspondent, Governor Yari in a letter in March 2017, drew the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari to the fact that Mahmud hails from Dogondaji in Sokoto State and thus not qualified to occupy the position for Zamfara State.
He thus went ahead to nominate Alhaji Sani Garba Gusau, a bonafide indigene of Zamfara State, for the position.
The letter reads in part: “I wish to respectfully refer His Excellency, Mr. President and Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to the list of nominees for appointment as Resident Electoral Commissioners in the country where the name of Barrister Ahmad Bello Mahmud appeared as Zamfara State’s representative.
“Pursuant to the above, I wish to draw the attention of Mr. President to the fact that nominee hails from Domino’s Daji town of Sokoto state and has no historical lineage with Zamfara he has been slated to represent.
“However, he was appointed to serve the state as Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice and later chairman, Anti-corruption Commission on the request by his political mentor, late Alhaji Ummaru Aliyu Shinkafi (Marafan) of blessed memory. Since he completed his term of office, he has not been associating himself with people and government of zamfara State and has not been contributing to the development and progress in any way.
“Mr. President sir, in consideration of the act establishing the Federal Character Commission that provides for equal representation by states in appointment of this nature, Barrister Bellingham Mahmud is only fit to represent Sokoto State not Zamfara.”
But at plenary on Wednesday, Senator Kabiru Marafa, through a motion, argued that the nominee as clearly stated in the committee’s report, was born and brought up in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara State, and even served as the Commissioner of Justice and Attorney-General of the state from 1999 to 2003 and Chairman, Zamfara State Anti-Corruption Commission from 2003 to 2007.
Marafa cited series of examples of Nigerians from different states, whose parents were not from Lagos State and yet held very important political positions on the platform of the state – appointive or elective – without any opposition whatsoever from Lagosians.
It could be recalled that the upper legislative chamber had in its consideration of report presented to it by its committee on INEC last Thursday rejected Mahmud as nominee for Zamfara State based on recommendation to that effect and confirmed nominees for similar positions from Lagos and Kebbi States respectively.