The plan by Zamfara State governor Abdul’aziz Yari, to recruit 8,500 civilian Joint Task Force, JTF was a grand plot to use the youth to destabilize the state during the 2019 elections, Sen Kabiru Garba Marafa has claimed.

Yari had, a fortnight ago, announced that he would recruit the civilian JTF in his bid to bring sanity and peace in the state amidst security challenges in Zamfara.

But Marafa who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (downstream), said it was curious that Yari could not summon courage to take such a decision all the while that people were killed in the state until when elections were approaching.

The senator, a frontline APC governorship aspirant in the state, said: “This is a governor that had deliberately allowed the banditry in the state to fester, and banned the activities of self help groups (local vigilante), despite all pleas and suggestions from all well meaning people across the state, will come out to announce the recruitment of 8,500 youth at the twilight of his administration.

“From our finding around his political circle, Yari resorted to recruit the 8,500 youths solely to execute his plot to destabilise the 2019 elections in Zamfara state like he did during the aborted Oct 3rd primary election where six people were killed and many more wounded.

“Because of his abysmal performance in the state, initially Yari thought he would use federal might including security agencies to manipulate next year’s elections. However, with the decision of INEC not to receive any list from APC for Zamfara state, all orchestrated by him, Yari has decided to arm innocent youth in the state to upturn people’s will come 2019, since his popularity cannot win him a ward in the state,” Marafa alleged.

•Sourced from a Daily Trust report