Alleged assassination: How I escaped death on Friday after Mosque prayers in Abuja – Shinkafi
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and former governorship candidate in Zamfara State, Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, escaped assassination in Abuja on Friday.
Shinkafi explained that some persons dressed in black, wearing masks and armed with guns, were said to have blocked and attacked his car after Friday Mosque prayers on his way home, and sped off in their black Prado Jeep that had no plate number.
Giving account of the incident, he narrated that earlier in the week, someone had called his Abuja residence several times.
“My life was threatened today when some persons dressed in black, wearing masks and carrying big guns, blocked and attacked my car after Friday Mosque prayers in Abuja and zoomed off,” he told reporters in Abuja.
“I appeal to the Inspector General of Police and Director General, Department of State Services (DSS), to thoroughly investigate this unprovoked attempt on my life to unravel those behind it and their sponsors to face justice.
“The attack is a violation of my fundamental rights as enshrined in Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, including right to life, right to dignity of human person, right to personal liberty, right to private and family life, right to freedom of expression—which I usually exercise in various media programmes, interviews, and press conferences without malice in the quest for a strong, united, stable, secured, peaceful, and prosperous democratic society.
“The attack may not be unconnected with my views on national security, particularly in Zamfara State, where I urged families of kidnapped victims not to pay ransom, as bandits used the funds to acquire more sophisticated weapons for their attacks on innocent citizens. I also urged the military to intensify their operations to flush out these criminal elements in the North West in particular, and the entire nation, which will make the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu easier, as the geopolitical zone gave him the highest votes in the 2023 presidential election, in which he appointed me to serve as a Patron, Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council. I equally served as Deputy Chairman, Matawalle Governorship Campaign Council (Zamfara State) in the 2023 Governorship Election and delivered my Polling Unit, Ward, and Local Government to APC candidates, and we delivered our local government during the Presidential election in 2023.
“As a patriotic citizen and democrat, I have been promoting peace, social development, and national security, which are essential to sustainable democracy and prosperity.
“It is obvious that my views may not be in consonance with those who prioritise personal interests above national interest. Just as my call on families of kidnapped victims not to pay ransom to bandits, which will only succeed in empowering them, enraged the wanted bandit kingpin, Turji Bello, who in a recent video threatened my life.
“Having served as the Chairman, Zamfara State Committee for the Prosecution of Bandits and Related Offences; Member, Zamfara State Committee for Finding Lasting Solution to Armed Banditry and Other Related Offences, alongside former Inspector General of Police, M.D. Abubakar; Chairman, Committee on Anti-Illegal Mining; Special Adviser on Inter-Governmental Affairs; and former National Secretary, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), I am in a position to address critical national matters objectively for the good of the nation.
“We should set aside parochial partisan politics in national interest. Nigeria is the only country we have; we must join hands to make it great again in the spirit of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.”
Alleged assassination: How I escaped death on Friday after Mosque prayers in Abuja – Shinkafi
