Zamfara APC Leaders Sue Party Over Suspension

A legal battle has erupted within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara State, as several ward and local government leaders have instituted a suit at the State High Court in Gusau, directly challenging their suspension from the party. The internal dispute highlights the persistent instability and factional conflicts plaguing the state chapter of the ruling party.

The plaintiffs were suspended from their posts for the singular reason of attending a stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Wamban Shinkafi Democratic Front on November 11, 2025, in the state capital. The move by the state leadership to penalize members for attending a meeting of a specific political camp has now been brought under judicial scrutiny.

The suit was formally filed by their counsel, Bello Idris Galadi and Associates, and dated November 14, 2025. The plaintiffs include Babangida Aliyu Shinkafi, who serves as the APC Chairman for Shinkafi South Ward; Kabiru Ibrahim, the APC Welfare Secretary for Shinkafi Local Government; and Ibrahim DD Kurya, the representative of People With Disabilities (PWD) for Shinkafi Local Government. They have named the State Chairman of the APC, Alhaji Tukur Danfulani Maikatako Gusau, and the APC Chairman for Shinkafi Local Government, Alhaji Ibrahim Bama Shinkafi, among the defendants.

The aggrieved party leaders are seeking a series of crucial court declarations and orders to restore their status and protect them from further punitive action. Central to their demands is a court declaration affirming their status as bona fide and legitimate members of the APC. They are also seeking a declaration that any form of purported suspension, expulsion, intimidation, harassment, or termination of their membership carried out by the defendants is unconstitutional, illegal, unlawful, null, and void.

Furthermore, the plaintiffs are seeking an order of perpetual injunction that would restrain the defendants, their agents, servants, assigns, or any other person acting on their behalf, from taking any further steps to suspend, expel, intimidate, harass, terminate the membership, or discriminate against them. They also requested an immediate order from the court directing the maintenance of status quo—meaning the suspension of all actions related to their alleged expulsion or harassment—pending the determination of the substantive suit before the court.

In their court averment, the plaintiffs stressed that they were duly elected during the APC congress held in 2022 and that their tenures remain legally subsistent. They openly confirmed their political allegiance, stating that they belong to the political camp led by Dr. Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, the leader of the Wamban Shinkafi Democratic Front. They specifically argued that Alhaji Ibrahim Bama Shinkafi, the APC Chairman of Shinkafi Local Government, suspended them orally “without just cause and reasonable grounds” that they had violated the party constitution, critically adding that they were not given any opportunity to defend themselves against the allegations. They maintained that all attempts to resolve the suspension internally failed, forcing them to approach the court for constitutional redress. The underlying friction in the Zamfara State APC, which has suffered successive governorship defeats to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019 and 2023, has often been blamed on persistent internal conflicts, candidate imposition, and the marginalization of party leaders and members, which the current legal action clearly exemplifies.