Details of how former Zamfara State Governor, Abdul’Azeez Yari allegedly spent billions of naira to contest for the seat of the Senate President for the 10th National Assembly have emerged.
Goldennewsng reports that Yari contested for the seat of the Senate President against the consensus candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Godswill Akpabio, who eventually emerged as the Senate President.
The former Zamfara State governor had secured 46 votes, while Akpabio got 63 votes to emerge the winner for the seat.
However, Yari after all is said and done has alleged that he was betrayed by some of the lawmakers because he allegedly had 76 senators on his side.
He said “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.
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.”
However, confirming this development, a former lawmaker told SaharaReporters at the weekend that Yari had lobbied the leadership of opposition political parties with a lot of money running into billions of naira.
The lawmaker whose name was withheld said was betrayed by the “leadership of some opposition parties.
The former lawmaker revealed that “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.”
Another source disclosed that “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.
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.”
