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The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State has deepened following the suspension and eventual resignation of eight House of Assembly members.
The lawmakers are: Aliyu Ango Kagara – representing Talata Mafara South; Ibrahim Tukur Bakura – representing Bakura; Faruk Musa Dosara – representing Maradun 1; Bashir Abubakar Masama – representing Bukkuyum North; Muktaru Nasiru Kaura – representing Kaura North; Nasiru Abdullahi – representing Maru North; Bashar Bello – representing Bungudu West; and Bashar Aliyu – representing Gummi 1, in the Zamfara State House of Assembly.
They were suspended on 26 February 2024 over claims of conspiracy, mischief, contempt of the House and convening an illegal sitting in violation of the Standing Orders of the Assembly.
The 2027 Zamfara North Senatorial District aspirant, Sani Shinkafi, in a statement issued yesterday, explained that the lawmakers left the party because the Assembly refused to pay them their entitlements and to recall them.
Shinkafi said contrary to speculations that the lawmakers are allies of Senator Abdul’aziz Yari, who is the Director General, /Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, they are not his close associates.
“As the suspension of the eight legislators lingered without salaries, allowances and other legislative entitlements, they forwarded a petition to the House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Petitions for its intervention to persuade both the State Assembly and the Governor to reinstate them and pay their accumulated remuneration.
“In March 2026, Governor Dauda Lawal defected from the PDP to the APC. With all the parties in the dispute now in APC, it was assumed that the matter would be amicably resolved.
“In his usual proactive and pragmatic stance, the Zamfara State leader of APC, Senator Yari convened and presided over a stakeholders’ meeting where he briefed members on his strategy meeting with President Bola Tinubu on Governor Dauda Lawal’s planned defection to the party.
“Only the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, the Senator representing Zamfara North Senatorial District and the member of the House of Representatives representing Birnin Magaji/Kaura Namoda, declined invitation to attend the stakeholders’ meeting that redefined the state’s political trajectory with the defection of the governor and his supporters from PDP to the APC which has strengthened the party.
“The stakeholders’ meeting extensively discussed the lingering State House of Assembly suspension of eight of its members. In my contribution, I urged Senator Yari to approach Governor Lawal as he planned to defect to APC to amicably resolve the matter to foster peace and unity in the party. Sadly, all efforts made were abortive.
“In his magnanimity as a compassionate leader, Yari gave financial support to the suspended legislators and continued to broker peace with those involved in the matter behind the scenes.
“Those who blame Senator Abdul’aziz Yari for not intervening in the protracted Zamfara State House of Assembly issue did so out of ignorance and mischief to undermine his political sagacity and savvy as a leader.
“Some political actors in the state also spread fake news due to their inherent politics of bitterness and division, downcast and depressed that President Bola Tinubu appointed Senator Abdul’aziz Yari as his Presidential Campaign Council’s Director General tasked with the burden of ensuring his re-election in the January 2027 presidential election, an assignment Yari is well qualified for and will deliver accordingly.
“It is this Yari’s national duty, relevance and acceptance that his known political rivals within and outside APC seek to undermine, forgetting that there is no competition in destiny.
“He continues to make political waves, redefine leadership with enormous intellectual capacity and tenacity of purpose that silence his opponents’ misguided propaganda and campaign of calumny,” he explained.
The former chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) also debunked what he called “fake news” on social media that Senator Abdul’aziz Yari was sponsoring the ADC governorship candidate in Zamfara State, Hon. Bilyaminu Yusuf Shinkafi.
According to him, the claim is mischievous, false, the handiwork of mischief makers and political adversaries of the former governor.
He added that some political actors are not happy that President Tinubu appointed Yari as his Presidential Campaign Council’s Director General and vent their grievances by spreading fake news and carrying out a campaign of calumny against him.
He clarified that the ADC gubernatorial candidate “is a cousin brother to the wife of Senator Yari who is the daughter of Umaru Shinkafi, as well as a cousin of the current Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, former Governor of Kebbi State.
“The ADC governorship candidate is also a cousin brother to the Executive Secretary of the Solid Mineral Development Fund as well as the nephew of the former Governor of Zamfara State, Mahmud Shinkafi, just as he is the cousin brother to Hafsatu Umaru Ali Shinkafi, who is married to Hon. Abdullahi Aliyu Ahmed, (Dujiman Katsina), Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Interior on the platform of the APC.
“The ADC gubernatorial candidate was previously an APC aspirant for the 2027 Zamfara North Senatorial District. The party’s screening committee did not clear him to contest for the senate, he defected to the ADC to run for governor using the substitution window provided for in the electoral framework.
“While in APC, he was an aspirant for Zamfara North Senatorial District, a position his uncle, former Governor Mahmud Shinkafi, also aspired for. Unfortunately, both of them were disqualified by the APC screening committee to run for senate in 2027.
“It is on record that Hon. Bilyaminu Yusuf Shinkafi was appointed a commissioner by then Governor Bello Matawalle. He later resigned when he was appointed a Federal Commissioner in the National Assembly Service Commission.
“He successfully completed his tenure during President ‘s administration and remains a political ally of Bello Matawalle.
“Yari has the political maturity and leadership acumen to drive the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council. As a devout Muslim, he believes that power belongs to God and whatever God decrees will surely happen as there is no competition in destiny.
“Yari is a team player and values relationships with fellow compatriots, the reason he easily forgives and seeks reconciliation in furtherance of a shared vision of a strong, virile, united, prosperous and inclusive democratic nation.
“Let it be clear that the All Progressives Congress in Zamfara State is strong, vibrant and united under the robust leadership of Distinguished Senator Abdul’aziz Yari, former Governor of Zamfara State and Director General, Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council.”
He urged Nigerians to ignore fake news about Yari and APC in Zamfara State, saying: “Nigeria needs visionary, purposeful, resourceful and courageous leaders like President Tinubu, Vice President Shettima, Senator Yari etc.
“Together we will build a nation future generations will be proud of. It starts with the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in the upcoming presidential election. This is our chance to foster sustainable democracy and development in Nigeria.”
