Senator Marafa Quits APC, Accuses Tinubu of ‘Use-and-Dump’ Leadership

Former Zamfara Central Senator and ex-state coordinator of the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign in the 2023 presidential election, Kabiru Garba Marafa, has officially resigned from the All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing President Bola Tinubu of operating a “use-and-dump” style of leadership.

Marafa, who represented Zamfara Central in the Senate from 2011 to 2019, announced his departure following a two-day meeting of the Senator Kabiru Marafa Consultative Forum, held in Kaduna on August 27 and 28, 2025. The meeting brought together supporters from all 14 local government areas of Zamfara State to address the deepening security, political, and developmental crises in the state.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the Forum—led by Chairman Comrade Bashir Muhammad Mafara and Secretary Dr. Mannir Bature Tsafe—lamented that despite Marafa’s critical role in delivering Zamfara to Tinubu during the 2023 elections, the state has suffered neglect under the current administration.

“At the peak of the campaign, Senator Marafa assured President Tinubu there was no need to visit Zamfara—he would deliver the votes. That promise was kept. Yet, the state has been sidelined,” the Forum stated.

The communiqué pointed to escalating insecurity in Zamfara as a key concern. It cited 2024 data showing the state recorded 1,203 of Nigeria’s 4,722 total abduction cases—the highest in the country. Following a recent bye-election, 25 villages were reportedly attacked, with 145 people kidnapped and 21 killed within a single week.

The Forum further criticized the deployment of security forces during the Kaura Namoda bye-election, alleging they were used to secure electoral victory for the APC, while failing to protect lives in the same communities plagued by bandit attacks.

On political appointments, the group expressed anger that despite voting overwhelmingly for Tinubu, Zamfara was only allocated a Minister of State position, while other Northwest states—some of which Tinubu lost—received two substantive ministerial appointments. It noted that even Lagos, which did not deliver for Tinubu in the same way, has received far more attention and patronage from the federal government.

The group also accused the APC national leadership of marginalising Marafa’s political structure, undermining the party’s founding ideals of inclusion, fairness, and equity.

After “exhaustive consultations and a critical review of prevailing circumstances,” the Forum announced the collective resignation of Senator Marafa’s entire political structure from the APC across all 147 wards in Zamfara State.

The decision, it said, was a protest against what it described as “sustained injustice, mistrust, marginalisation, and deliberate neglect” of Zamfara and its people.

The Forum concluded that it would reveal its next political direction soon, guided by the collective interests of the Zamfara electorate.

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