Yari incarcerated by DSS for ignoring Tinubu’s phone call

• Yari on a collision course with the presidency
• Detained by the DSS for ignoring Tinubu’s overture ahead of the senate presidency poll
• Yari has been in DSS custody since Thursday

A former governor of Zamfara State and senator representing Zamfara West, Abdulaziz Yari, is being incarcerated by Nigeria’s fearsome secret police, Department of State Services, in what appears to be a move to thwart an impending collision course with the presidency.

Sources at the secret police headquarters said Yari’s travail was not unconnected with his decision to contest for the president of the senate seat despite purported overtures from president Bola Tinubu for him to shelve his ambition.

The lawmaker was said to have arrived at the office of the secret police after plenary on Thursday to honour its invitation.

Peoples Gazette, an online publication,  reported that Yari was arrested by the secret police after receiving a call from the director-general, Yusuf Bichi, to report at the DSS headquarters for an urgent discussion.

The media outlet reported that effort to reach the lawmaker has yielded no result as his mobile phone indicated that it was switched off.

Yari went against the All Progressives Congress zoning arrangement by contesting the Senate presidency with the party’s choice, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who eventually emerged victorious in the election for the president of the upper legislative chamber.

The APC and the presidency zoning arrangement was informed by the need to even things out as the president is a Muslim from the South west and his vice is also a Muslim for the North East.

However, Yari was undeterred by the party’s arrangement and forged ahead with his political aspiration.

He was said to have ignored Tinubu’s call in the build up to the election of the senate presidency. The president was reportedly calling him to prevail on him to step down for Akpabio.

A determined and fearless did not budge and contested the election even with the odds heavily stacked against him. He lost to Akpabio who had 63 votes while Yari had 46 votes.