A group of Zamfara State lawmakers has left the All Progressives Congress, citing insecurity and grievances over their treatment, while the Assembly speaker says their suspensions were imposed long before they quit the party.
The lawmakers announced their withdrawal on Sunday. Their next party was not immediately disclosed.
The number involved remains disputed. Daily Trust reported seven defections and quoted Assembly information committee chairman Shamsu Hassan Basko as saying seven, not eight, members had left. The speaker’s statement referred to eight lawmakers; Daily Trust’s report also listed eight names despite its seven-member account.
Speaker Bilyaminu Ismail Moriki said the affected members were suspended on February 26, 2024, over allegations of gross misconduct, conspiracy, contempt of the House and holding an unauthorised sitting in breach of its rules.
In the statement reported by Channels Television and published as a press release by Premium Times, he said the lawmakers had been accused of breaking into the offices of the Clerk and Sergeant-at-Arms, entering the chamber by force and damaging public property. He said a criminal complaint had followed. These are allegations by the Assembly leadership, not findings of guilt.
Moriki said the House extended the suspensions on May 13, 2026, because the disciplinary issues remained unresolved. He argued that leaving a political party did not invalidate pending legislative or legal matters.
He also said two other suspended members had been reinstated after apologising, and that the Assembly had 16 active members. According to him, it held plenary the previous Tuesday and was due to reconvene on Monday, October 5.
Aliyu Ango Kagara, one of the lawmakers who left, gave a different account of their grievances in Daily Trust. He accused Governor Dauda Lawal of failing to resolve their reinstatement after joining the APC and alleged that they had gone 32 months without salaries, allowances and other benefits.
Kagara also said rural constituents’ security concerns were not receiving enough attention.
Basko, who said he had earlier belonged to the suspended group before returning to the House, denied that Lawal had failed to fulfil reconciliation promises. He said his outstanding entitlements had been paid and disputed claims about the non-payment of the suspended members’ salaries and allowances.
The state APC publicity secretary, Ibrahim Danmadamin Birnin Magaji, told Daily Trust that the party had seen resignation letters on social media but had not yet received formal notification. He said it was waiting for correspondence to pass from the lawmakers’ wards through their local government executives to the state party.
Sources: Daily Trust, Channels Television, Premium Times
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