Dr. Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, former Zamfara governorship candidate and stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC), narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Abuja on Friday, August 15, 2025, shortly after leaving a mosque.
In an interview with AIT, Shinkafi disclosed that this was not the first time his life had been targeted. “Last year, I was also attacked inside a mosque. I have been receiving threats repeatedly from well-known bandit leaders,” he said.
He specifically pointed to Bello Turji, the notorious bandit leader who has terrorized communities across Zamfara and Sokoto. According to Shinkafi, Turji once released a video insulting him and issuing direct threats to his life. In addition, another bandit placed ten calls to him and sent two voice messages, warning him to stop advising both the Zamfara State governor and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu against engaging in negotiations with armed groups.
“The renowned bandit Bello Turji has been threatening me. He did a video clip, threatening me and describing me with all kinds of insults. And another bandit called me 10 times and sent me two voice messages that I am always telling the governor of Zamfara State and the current president not to go into negotiation with them,” Shinkafi recounted.
The revelations raise troubling questions about the state’s strategy in addressing insecurity. Successive governments have flirted with the idea of negotiating with bandit leaders, often presenting these talks as a path to peace. Yet, Bello Turji has consistently demonstrated bad faith—accepting large sums of money and pledging to abandon violence, only to return to killings, kidnappings, and mass destruction.
Security analysts widely regard such peace deals as scams that embolden criminals rather than dismantle their networks. Each failed negotiation undermines public trust in government and strengthens the perception that armed groups can dictate terms to the state.
The politicization of banditry further complicates the crisis. In Zamfara and other states, security challenges are often entangled with political rivalry, with leaders either exploiting the insecurity for political gain or avoiding hard decisions to maintain fragile alliances. The result has been a cycle of violence, where ordinary Nigerians pay the heaviest price.
Dr. Shinkafi’s ordeal underscores both the gravity of the threat and the cost of indecision. That a senior political figure can be openly threatened by criminals and nearly assassinated in the nation’s capital highlights the erosion of state authority. It also demonstrates the risks faced by those who speak against the normalization of dialogue with outlaws.
For many Nigerians, the path forward is clear: decisive action, not appeasement. Until the government abandons cosmetic negotiations and invests in a credible security response—backed by political will—bandits will continue to act with impunity, and citizens like Shinkafi will remain targets.
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