To this effect, Marafa informed that the President has put in machineries in place to strengthen the reward system of the All Progressives Congress in a bid to discourage the trend of “monkey de work, baboon de chop”.
While he attributed the defeat of the APC during the governorship election to the hypocrisy and anti-party activities by some chieftains of the party, he stressed that President Tinubu knows those who worked against him in Zamfara State.
Marafa, a former Chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources, stated these while addressing Zamfara State members of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council on Tuesday night in Abuja.
The event was organised to appreciate God for Tinubu’s victory and successful inauguration.
Hundreds of the Zamfara-PCC members that included women and youths from across the 14 LGAs of the state attended the event.
The PUNCH had reported that while Tinubu won Zamfara State at the presidential poll, APC lost the governorship election in the state to the Peoples Democratic Party.
There has been long-standing criticism in the APC that faithful party members who laboured for the success of the party in the state do not get rewarded, while new entrants get juicy positions in government.
But Marafa told the APC faithful that Tinubu’s Presidency would right the injustices of the past.
He said, “Mr. President said I should tell you that he is still on his promise to change the reward system of government. Mr. President appreciates what Zamfara State did. The President has the people of the state in his mind; he is a person that appreciates people. He is the President of the whole country, not for Zamfara alone.
“He appreciates what people have done, I have told him everything, he is aware of the anti-party activities committed in the state, and he knows the perpetrators and everything.
“I am thankful to God because of the mercy He has shown to us because we won before, we won again and we won again. So, if we lose now, what is the big deal about it? You cannot know who is good until there is a comparison,” an elated Marafa remarked.
He added, “Some people were given an assignment and they failed woefully. We were given an assignment, and we delivered triumphantly. So, we thank God, I want to assure you the President has Zamfara in his mind. He is the President of the country, not Zamfara alone. This is the person that appreciates people; this is a person that appreciates what people have done.
“We have told him everything … The era of ‘monkey dey work, baboon dey chop is over’.
“Mr. President said he is still on his promise to change the reward system of government. And I am sure he is going to do it. Politics is about inclusion, about the people. So what I did is for your efforts collectively; all of you,” the APC leader stressed.
Various leaders of the party, including Alhaji Abdullahi Shinkafi, who also spoke at the event extolled the virtues of the immediate past governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, and expressed optimism that the APC would regain the state at the Election Petition Tribunal.
The party’s leadership while also praying for the success of the Tinubu administration, urged that the challenges facing the country be tackled effortlessly by his administration.