Zamfara lawmakers quit APC over insecurity and unpaid entitlements as Speaker Bilyaminu Moriki rejects claims of Assembly instability
On Sunday, 4 October 2026, Hon. Aliyu Ango Kagara, Hon. Ibrahim Tudu Tukur, Hon. Faruk Musa Dosara, Hon. Bashir Abubakar Masama, Hon. Muktaru Nasiru Kaura, Hon. Nasiru Abdullahi, Hon. Bashar Bello and Hon. Bashar Aliyu, members of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, announced their resignation from the All Progressives Congress in Gusau, citing insecurity, alleged injustice, internal party concerns and unpaid salaries and allowances.
The move has opened another chapter in the long-running political and legislative dispute surrounding the Zamfara Assembly, with the departing lawmakers presenting their exit as a response to unresolved problems affecting their constituencies and the state, while Speaker Bilyaminu Ismail Moriki insists that the political development should not be confused with the Assembly’s ability to function.
The eight lawmakers represent Talata Mafara South, Bakura, Maradun I, Bukkuyum North, Kaura North, Maru North, Bungudu West and Gummi I constituencies.
Several of the lawmakers have been at the centre of the Assembly’s prolonged internal dispute since their suspension in 2024.
Aliyu Kagara, who represents Talata Mafara South, said the lawmakers’ concerns were rooted largely in the security situation facing Zamfara, particularly rural communities.
He also said the lawmakers had gone 32 months without salaries, allowances and other entitlements.
“This is our 32 months without salary, allowances and other entitlements as honourable members and the people of Zamfara; the ball is in their court,” Kagara said, according to reports of the lawmakers’ statement.
The lawmakers’ departure follows months of political realignment in Zamfara.
In December 2025, six members of the Assembly moved from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC, citing internal divisions within the PDP, constitutional concerns and dissatisfaction with the state government’s handling of security and governance.
The political balance shifted further in March 2026, when Governor Dauda Lawal and Speaker Moriki, alongside 12 other lawmakers, moved from the PDP to the APC. The move temporarily gave the APC control of all 24 seats in the state legislature.
The latest resignations therefore represent a significant reversal of that political alignment, although the lawmakers had not, at the time of reporting, formally announced another party as their destination.
Some reports have linked the development to possible opposition realignment ahead of the 2027 elections, but the lawmakers themselves had yet to confirm a new platform.
For Moriki, however, the more immediate issue is the distinction between political affiliation and legislative discipline.
In a response issued after the resignations, Moriki said the lawmakers at the heart of the controversy had already faced disciplinary action before their political movement.
He said eight lawmakers were suspended on 26 February 2024 over allegations including gross misconduct, conspiracy, mischief, contempt of the House and participation in an unauthorised sitting.
Contemporary reports from February 2024 confirm that the Assembly suspended eight members after accusing them of breaking into the offices of the Clerk and Sergeant-at-Arms, gaining access to the legislative chamber and conducting an unauthorised sitting.
The suspension was approved unanimously after a motion by the House leadership.
The dispute subsequently moved beyond the Assembly chamber. In May 2024, the Zamfara State Government filed a direct criminal complaint against the eight suspended lawmakers at a Magistrate Court in Gusau.
The complaint alleged forceful entry into Assembly offices, the removal of items including a mace, damage to property and the conduct of an unauthorised legislative sitting. Defence lawyers challenged the court’s jurisdiction.
The suspended lawmakers have consistently disputed the Assembly leadership’s account.
In later statements, they alleged that their suspension was connected to their criticism of the government’s handling of insecurity and argued that the disciplinary action had deprived their constituencies of representation.
Moriki has rejected that explanation, maintaining that the suspension followed breaches of legislative rules rather than political disagreement.
The dispute also produced a parallel legislative structure in 2025, when suspended members gathered separately in Gusau and elected Bashar Aliyu Gummi as their Speaker.
Reports at the time described the development as another manifestation of the deepening crisis within the 24-member Assembly.
There has since been at least one notable attempt at reconciliation. In August 2026, Amiru Ahmad Keta, one of the eight lawmakers originally suspended in 2024, tendered an unconditional apology and had his suspension lifted by the Assembly.
The House also asked Keta to withdraw pending court cases against the Assembly and the state government.
That development is significant because Keta is not among the eight lawmakers reported to have resigned from the APC on 4 October.
The current group includes several members who were part of the earlier disciplinary dispute, but it also includes Aliyu Kagara and Muktaru Nasiru Kaura, whose political roles in the subsequent crisis differed from the original eight-person suspension list.
Moriki has sought to reassure the public that the latest political rupture has not paralysed the legislature.
He said the Assembly remains functional, with 16 active members, and continues to conduct proceedings under the Constitution and its Standing Orders.
“The Zamfara State House of Assembly is stable, functional and fully engaged in its constitutional responsibilities,” Moriki said. “The purported defection of members who have remained under suspension cannot be presented as evidence of disarray in the House.”
The Speaker also said the House had extended the suspension of affected members on 13 May 2026 because the disciplinary issues remained unresolved.
He maintained that changing political parties could not extinguish legislative disciplinary matters or pending legal proceedings arising from alleged misconduct.
There is, however, a discrepancy in the early reporting of Sunday’s development. Channels Television and New Telegraph reported nine lawmakers as having left the APC, adding Yusuf Muhammad Anka of Anka Constituency to the names carried by several other outlets. Punch, TheCable, BusinessDay and other reports identified eight lawmakers.
The difference may reflect the timing of separate resignation notifications, but the figure should be treated cautiously until the Assembly or the APC publishes a definitive register of the resignations.
For Zamfara, the episode is about more than another change of party. The state’s persistent insecurity, internal party disputes and the unresolved history of the Assembly have repeatedly intersected with the political careers of the lawmakers involved.
With the 2027 elections approaching, the latest move could become a powerful test of whether the APC can maintain the broad legislative alignment it built earlier this year, and whether the defecting lawmakers can translate their grievances over security, representation and welfare into a new political platform.
For now, the political paths of the eight lawmakers and the Assembly leadership remain sharply divided.
Moriki says the institution remains steady; the departing lawmakers say their decision reflects frustrations that have remained unresolved for too long.
