APC Crisis In Zamfara: Chieftain Urges Sacking Of Defence Minister

The simmering crisis within the Zamfara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken a sharp turn, with a party stalwart calling for the removal of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, accusing him of exacerbating internal divisions.

The appeal was made on Tuesday by a prominent APC chieftain and former National Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, during a media interaction at the national headquarters of the APC in Abuja.

Shinkafi urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene decisively in the ongoing turmoil in Zamfara, particularly the fallout from a failed membership e‑registration exercise that has deepened factional fault lines within the party in the state.

According to him, the crisis has been worsened by Matawalle’s role, prompting calls for his removal.

He said, “I have spent time with a number of print and electronic media, calling for the removal and scrapping of the Office of the Minister of State for Defence. My reason is because the main Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, is equal to the task.

“He has the experience, he has the educational background and the qualifications to handle the national defence and security of this country. So, removing Matawalle from the Federal Executive Council is not a bad deal. He is the one who is hatching acts of hatred, disunity, lack of cohesion, fragmentation and sponsoring party’s wrongdoing and violence.

“It is not a bad deal for the party to remain intact and win elections. If we must do that, Mr. President has to put the house in order in Zamfara State.”

While attributing his mission at the national secretariat to the challenges confronting the ongoing membership e-registration in the state, Shinkafi pleaded with the party to intervene.

He added, “Absolutely, it is not only me. I have a political structure or political movement called Wambai Shinkafi Democratic Front. And we have membership cut across the 14 local government areas in Zamfara State and across the 147 electoral wards in the state.

“All these our members have not been registered even when I have declared publicly my support and endorsed Mr. President for a second term in 2027 and also declared my intention to run for the office of governor in 2027.

“So, the challenges I have is that I am facing a lot of threat to life, harassment, intimidation and the person I have been accusing, precisely is the Minister of State for Defence, and he is the one. Any other person accusing Abdullaziz Yari of playing a role in our exclusion, Aminu Sani Jaji and I are not fair to him.

“From the state chairman to all the state executives, all the ward executives, all the local government executives have been hand-picked by Matawalle when he was governor in 2021.”