Dr Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial aspirant for Zamfara North, filed a petition with Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, on 9 November alleging that serving military personnel interfered in the party’s rerun primary held on 2 November in Zamfara State.
According to the petition, Lieutenant Commander Salisu Abdulrahman Umar – the chief security officer to the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle – and other uniformed members allegedly engaged in partisan activities, manipulated the results of 42 ward result sheets and the senatorial‑district result sheet, and deployed armoured vehicles and gun trucks to intimidate voters and influence the outcome in favour of a preferred candidate.
The document notes that Umar’s name does not appear in the Zamfara State Commissioner of Police’s Operation Order No. 29/DOPS/2026, which outlined security arrangements for the primary. Shinkafi further alleges that Umar colluded with the primary election committee, reportedly led by Dr Awwal Abdullahi Aliyu, to produce fraudulent result sheets despite the absence of official voting materials at the designated centres.
Shinkafi urges the Defence Minister to task the Military Police and the Defence Intelligence Agency with investigating the allegations, to interdict Umar pending the outcome, and to pursue a court‑martial if the officer is found culpable. The petition is accompanied by copies of the disputed result sheets, the police operational order, video and photographic evidence, and fourteen social‑media links that Shinkafi says substantiate his claims.
The controversy follows an earlier APC senatorial primary on 28 May 2026 that was nullified by the Federal High Court in Gusau and upheld by the Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division, which ordered a fresh primary for all cleared aspirants. Shinkafi contends that the November rerun likewise failed to reflect the wishes of APC members in Zamfara North, a region that forms part of Nigeria’s north‑western political landscape.
<small>Source: Daily Post Nigeria — read the original story there.</small>
