Marafa, loyalists dump APC, point fingers at Tinubu

Former Zamfara Central Senator, Kabiru Garba Marafa, has formally resigned from the All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing President Bola Tinubu of operating a “use-and-dump” style of leadership.

Marafa, who served as Zamfara’s Coordinator for the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Organisation during the 2023 presidential election, announced his exit after a two-day meeting of the Senator Kabiru Marafa Consultative Forum. The gathering, held in Kaduna on August 27–28, 2025, brought together his supporters from all 14 local government areas of the state.

In a communiqué signed by forum leaders, the group recalled that under Marafa’s leadership, Tinubu secured victory in Zamfara during the 2023 polls—even without personally visiting the state. Despite this, they said Zamfara has been “abandoned” under Tinubu’s administration.

The forum cited several grievances, including:

• Escalating insecurity: Zamfara was reportedly Nigeria’s epicenter of kidnappings in 2024, with 1,203 out of 4,722 abductions nationwide occurring in the state. In just one week during a recent by-election, 25 villages were attacked, 145 people abducted, and 21 killed.
• Security deployment for politics over lives: The group condemned the alleged use of security forces to secure APC’s by-election win in Kaura Namoda, while residents in other areas remained vulnerable to bandit attacks.
• Marginalization in federal appointments: Unlike other Northwest states that received two substantive ministerial slots, Zamfara only got a Minister of State, while states where Tinubu lost—such as Lagos—allegedly received greater political and developmental rewards.
• Neglect of victims: The Presidency was accused of ignoring victims of banditry in Zamfara, while showing personal intervention and relief support in other states.

The communiqué also lamented that Marafa’s political structure had been sidelined in APC activities, contrary to the party’s founding ideals of fairness and inclusivity.

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Following what it described as “exhaustive consultations,” the forum resolved that Marafa and his political base across all 147 wards of Zamfara State have officially quit the APC in protest against “sustained injustice, mistrust, marginalisation, and deliberate neglect.”

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The group said it would announce its next political move in due course, guided by the collective interest of Zamfara people.