The crisis rocking the Zamfara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken a disturbing dimension as a party chieftain, Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, has demanded the sack of the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, for allegedly fuelling the rift in the state.

Shinkafi, who spoke to newsmen at the national headquarters of the party on Tuesday, passionately appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the crisis in the state, particularly the challenge of the failed membership e-registration exercise.

The former National Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) hinged his call on President Tinubu to sack Matawalle on the need to scrap the junior ministry to avoid distracting the substantive ministry.

He said: “I have spent time with a number on print and electronic media, calling for removal and scrapping of the Office of the Minister of State for Defence. My reason is because the main Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, is equal to the task.

“He has the experience, he has the educational background, and the qualifications to handle the national defence and security of this country. So, removing Matawalle from the Federal Executive Council is not a bad deal. He is the one who is hatching acts of hatred, disunity, lack of cohesion, fragmentation, and sponsoring party’s wrongdoing and violence.

“It is not a bad deal for the party to remain intact, and win the election. If we must do that Mr. President has to put the house in order in Zamfara State,” he noted.

While attributing his mission at the national secretariat to the challenges confronting the ongoing membership e-registration in the state, Shinkafi pleaded with the party to intervene.

“Absolutely, it is not only me. I have a political structure or political movement called Wambai Shinkafi Democratic Front. And we have membership cut across the 14 Local Government Areas in Zamfara State and cut across the 147 electoral wards in Zamfara State.

“All these, our members have not been registered even when I have declared publicly my support and endorse Mr. President for second term in 2027 and also declared my intention to run for office of governor come 2027.

“So, the challenges I have is that I am facing a lot of threat to life, harassment, intimidation, and the person I have been accusing, precisely the Minister of State for Defence, and he is the one. Any other person accusing Abdullaziz Yari of playing a role on our exclusion, Aminu Sani Jaji and I are not fair to him.

“From the state chairman to all the state executives, all the ward executives, all the local government executives, including the ward executives, have been hand-picked by Matawale when he was a governor in 2021,” he said. (The Sun)