Zamfara State, known for its rich deposits of solid minerals, is emerging as a potential electoral battleground state in the 2027 general election. Two sons of the state and former governors, Ahmad Sani Yarima and Dauda Lawal, are occupying influential positions in the national scheme of things. Incumbent Governor Lawal is seeking a second term in office and has allied with one of his predecessors, Yarima, in a move that is shaking off the toga of desperation.
Zamfara State has a history of political drama and electoral upsets. The state was one of the last created by the military before Nigeria's return to presidential democracy. Yarima, the first democratically elected chief executive, equated governance with the errand of tin gods and rode on the prevailing popular piety in the state to wave religion as his banner of populism. He won a second term as governor and later won the Zamfara West seat in the National Assembly.
Yarima's political history includes supporting his deputy, Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi, to succeed him as governor in 2007. However, Shinkafi defected to the ruling PDP and lost his re-election in 2011 to Abdul'aziz Abubakar Yari, who had circulated in various party offices and ran for the 2011 governorship from the House of Representatives. Yari went on to become the chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF) and later disclosed that the period between 2015 and 2019 was a curious time to be governor.
The incumbent governor, Lawal, recently told journalists that the state is trying to shake off its reputation as the cradle of Sharia system. However, the scars of the state's attempt to perfect Islam along the lines of oppositional political ideology remain. The state's politics has been characterized by godfathering, impunity, and imposition, with Senator Kabiru Marafa being a thorn in the political flesh of Yari.
In the lead-up to the 2023 general election, Matawalle, who became governor by procedural default, was lured back into the APC. Believing that the best way to appropriate the legendary federal might during the 2023 poll was to align with the ruling APC, Matawalle walked into a clever ambush laid by the political godfathers in the state. The entire scheme of uniting the political forces under the APC structure was to pave the way for Yari's eventual return to the National Assembly and national politics.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed Matawalle into the federal cabinet as Minister of State for Defence, extending his political magnanimity towards the former governor. Yari, who had penciled Muktar Shehu Idris as his preferred candidate for the APC governorship ticket, saw his attempt to muscle the APC governorship primary lead to a split of the party structure.
The Supreme Court struck down the APC primary elections in the state, sacking all the candidates of the party in Zamfara State. The court ruled that the APC primary elections were conducted in total breach of extant laws and the laid down regulations. The judgment was a vindication for Marafa's campaign against godfathering, impunity, and imposition.
Key points
- The alliance between Yari and Lawal is seen as a significant development in Zamfara State's politics ahead of the 2027 general election.
- Zamfara State has a history of political drama and electoral upsets.
- The state's politics has been characterized by godfathering, impunity, and imposition.
