The coordinated push for the removal of Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, is being driven by a factional political agenda rather than the national security failures publicly cited, according to documents and conversations reviewed by this reporter. At the centre of the operation is Senator Kabiru Marafa, who has mobilised a discreet network of loyalists across Abuja, leveraging his long-standing alliances inside the APC to erode Matawalle’s influence and clear the path for Governor Dauda Lawal to take control of the party’s structure in Zamfara. Though Lawal is a PDP governor, sources say the plan is to “recode” the state politically ahead of 2027.
Multiple insiders confirm that the strategy was first discussed shortly after Lawal’s Supreme Court victory, when it became clear that Matawalle would remain the most powerful political node in the state despite losing the governorship. According to a senior party source, Marafa’s argument was simple: as long as Matawalle controls APC organs and retains a federal platform, he can dictate the political direction of Zamfara, making Lawal a one-term Governor. The solution, in their view, is to “decouple Matawalle from the centre” and leave him without leverage in Abuja or at the state level.
Investigators found that the campaign is being executed through multiple layers. The public-facing narrative is to position Matawalle as ineffective in addressing banditry, circulating curated data points and briefings to select media platforms to slowly frame the minister as a security liability. Privately, Marafa’s group is lobbying key figures in the Senate, where oversight arguments can be used to stimulate pressure on the presidency. One source who attended a private strategy session described the messaging line as: “Make it about security, not politics, people will rally around insecurity narratives.”
However, several officials close to the Defence Ministry insist that the security argument is being manipulated to mask a pure political grab. Internal memos seen by this reporter show active defence operations across Zamfara and the Northwest, contradicting claims that the Ministry has been inactive. Some insiders say the allegations are deliberately timed to coincide with the early positioning for 2027, when control of the APC ticket in Zamfara could determine the next governor, Senate configuration, and federal allocation power balance. “What they are fighting for is structure, not peace,” one senior official said.
The presidency, according to sources in the Villa, is aware of the manoeuvres and has decided to approach the matter cautiously, given its implications for internal party discipline and national security optics. Analysts within the ruling party say President Tinubu is unlikely to entertain proxy wars disguised as public interest arguments. “If they want a political fight, they should fight it openly,” one Villa adviser said. For now, the plot remains active, the lobby quietly expanding, and Zamfara’s political chessboard moving under the surface—far from the public statements on insecurity.
