2027: Zamfara APC faces fresh crisis as Shinkafi denies withdrawal

By Luminous Jannamike

Fresh trouble is brewing in the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Zamfara State after a senatorial aspirant, Dr Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, rejected the outcome of the Zamfara North primary and denied stepping down for any consensus candidate.

Shinkafi’s protest has reopened old wounds inside the Zamfara APC, with the party facing fresh allegations of candidate imposition, exclusion of cleared aspirants and violation of the Electoral Act, the same issues that led to the APC’s devastating loss of all elective positions in the state after the 2019 elections.

In a letter addressed to the APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, the aspirant accused some influential figures within the party of orchestrating his exclusion from the primary election.

“I did not withdraw from the senatorial race, did not write any letter that I stepped down, and did not make any private or public statement that I withdrew from the primary,” Shinkafi stated.

He alleged that aspirants in Zamfara were informed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had directed all senatorial aspirants to step down for serving senators ahead of the May 19 primary election.

“There was no meeting or consultation for this arbitrary order which contradicted earlier statements made by the President and National Chairman of our great party,” he said.

Shinkafi argued that the alleged arrangement violated Sections 84 to 87 of the Electoral Act 2026, which require political parties to conduct primaries and obtain written consent from cleared aspirants before adopting consensus candidates.

He warned that the APC risked repeating the political crisis that crippled the party in Zamfara in 2019 if it failed to respect due process and internal democracy.

“That was how APC lost all the seats it won in the 2019 general election including the governorship,” he said.

The aspirant recalled that the Supreme Court, in a judgment delivered on May 24, 2019, upheld the nullification of APC primaries in Zamfara State over irregularities in the nomination process, leading to the loss of all seats won by the party.

According to him, the current dispute bears striking similarities to the events that triggered the party’s collapse in the state ahead of the 2019 elections.

Shinkafi also alleged that political thugs and hoodlums were mobilised to disrupt the senatorial primaries in parts of the state to pave the way for what he described as an illegal consensus arrangement.

“It was common knowledge in Zamfara State that political thugs and hoodlums were mobilised to disrupt the senatorial primaries in the state to pave way for the illegal consensus,” he alleged.

He further warned that worsening economic hardship, insecurity and internal divisions within the APC could weaken the party’s chances in the next general election in Zamfara State.

“I foresee danger in the forthcoming general election,” he warned.

Shinkafi said he had directed his supporters in Zamfara North Senatorial District not to participate in what he described as an ‘undemocratic affirmation’ of preferred candidates.

“This injustice shall not stand. I will challenge my exclusion from Zamfara North Senatorial Primary in the Court of Law,” he declared.

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