Former Governor of Zamfara state, Abdulaziz Yari, and Senator Kabir Marafa have declared that Governor Bello Matawalle can never be the leader of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Zamfara State.

They both made the statement after a meeting with Governor Nasir El-Rufai in Kaduna state on Wednesday.

Mr Matawalle had in a grand ceremony defected to the APC in Gusau, Zamfara State capital.

He was received into the party by Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni, who is also the caretaker chairman of the party, alongside seven other governors.

Mr Buni declared Mr Matawalle the leader of the APC in the state at the occasion.

But in an interview with BBC Hausa, the APC party leaders in Zamfara state said they will not agree with someone new coming to join the party as their leader in just one day.

Both Messrs Marafa and Yari said they had earlier met with six governors from the APC to discuss the conditions upon which Mr Matawalle would be accepted into the party.

“It is one thing we do not agree with, where Governor Mai Mala said [Matawalle is the leader of the APC] because he is not in our discussions with six governors.

“What we agreed on was to go and launch Bello first and return to negotiate.

What we agreed on is what we would give in the party and what we would take in government.

But when we went there, there was a controversy and we found that there was a plan, some said, the party was to be disbanded.

The party cannot be destroyed because no one has the power to destroy it.”

Senator Marafa emphasised that the appointment of Governor Matawalle as the leader of the APC in Zamfara was a scam that they would never accept.

He said some APC leaders sitting in Abuja can not just appoint leaders in Zamfara State, adding that Mr Matawalle’s entry into the party will escalate the party crisis.

He added, “We were asked to do what was done in Gusau.

It was just a celebration.

We were the ones who said before we could be one, there had to be a [discussion] in Abuja.”