Ismaeel Aleem
In a plea that lays bare the fractures within Zamfara’s political landscape, a prominent All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and former gubernatorial hopeful, Dr. Sani Shinkafi, has urged President Bola Tinubu and the party’s National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, to curb the alleged meddling of Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.
Shinkafi’s stark warning, issued yesterday, paints a picture of a party teetering on the brink of self-destruction, haunted by old grudges and fresh ambitions.
Once a vocal supporter of Matawalle’s ministerial nomination in 2023 hailing it as a boost for APC unity Shinkafi now accuses the former Zamfara governor of betraying that promise.
“Matawalle, who should be uniting and fortifying the APC, is sowing discord among members ahead of 2027,” Shinkafi lamented in his statement.
He claims the minister’s “politics of bitterness and vendetta” a holdover from his failed 2023 re-election bid against PDP’s Dauda Lawal has already splintered the party, driving out key figures and spawning rival factions.
Shinkafi, himself a survivor of two politically motivated attacks, including a narrow escape from assassins in Abuja last August, spoke with the weariness of a man caught in endless intrigue.
“I distanced myself from certain APC activities to dodge needless clashes,” he confessed, revealing how Matawalle’s camp allegedly lures defectors from rivals like Hon Aminu Sani Jaji, Senator Kabiru Mafara, and ex-governor Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari.
These “decampees” are reportedly received at the Ministry of Defence, transforming it into what Shinkafi derisively calls a “personal campaign office” – a far cry from the frontlines against banditry plaguing Zamfara’s dusty villages.
This, Shinkafi argues, mocks President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which champions inclusive governance.
Instead of rallying new members or confronting insurgents, Matawalle is “chasing shadows in a vicious cycle,” he charged, urging a halt to these “infantile” manoeuvres lest the APC face another humiliating defeat.
“The war on terrorism and banditry must preoccupy any defence minister, security is the government’s solemn duty,” Shinkafi emphasised.
