Zamfara: Shinkafi Warns Gov. Dauda to Publish Matawalle’s Hand‑over Notes or Face Legal Action

A former governorship aspirant in Zamfara State, Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, has called on the Dauda Lawal administration to publish, without delay, former Governor Bello Matawalle’s handover note and the transition committee report that detail the gold purchases made between 2020 and 2023.

Shinkafi warned that if the documents are not released in national newspapers within 14 days, he will be forced to approach the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), and the National Security Adviser (NSA).

He said that citizens must hold elected officials at all levels accountable, insisting that sovereignty belongs to the people.

In a statement on Thursday, Shinkafi said, “It is curious that three years after Bello Matawalle left office as governor of Zamfara State, nothing has been heard of his administration’s well‑publicised Gold Reserve Initiative, which he proudly presented to then President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa Abuja on 24 October 2020 with 31 kilograms of gold and precious stones that the state had procured to strengthen its financial base.”

He added, “Matawalle told Buhari that the state had received offers from prospective buyers to supply them with gold bars, stating that the gold was mined and refined by local miners. He was concerned that few people mined gold in Zamfara State and that it was being sold abroad, so his government engaged the miners to block the supply chain and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands due to security issues in the state.”

Buhari commended the initiative and said it was the first time Zamfara gold had been presented to him since he became president.

After the meeting with President Buhari, Matawalle addressed State House correspondents, alleging that some foreigners were exchanging arms for gold and stones in the state and imploring the Federal Government to investigate.

“Zamfara State is blessed with solid mineral deposits in commercial quantity,” Shinkafi noted. “It has become necessary to ascertain the quantity of gold the Matawalle government purchased with public funds that were meant for projects and the payment of salaries and wages.”

He said the current value of the 31 kilograms of gold presented to Buhari is estimated at five billion nine hundred and fifty‑two million naira.

In October 2020, then Governor Bello Matawalle addressed a world press conference stating that the government had saved funds through the establishment of the Zamfara State Gold Reserve Initiative for the benefit of the people.

It is on record that in April 2019, after a Federal Executive Council meeting, the Federal Government suspended all exploration and mining activities in Zamfara State due to widespread insecurity. The office of the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno, made a public statement on behalf of President Buhari suspending mining activities in Zamfara State, a suspension that was lifted in 2025 after six years.

In view of the Federal Government’s suspension of solid‑mineral mining from 2019 to 2025, Shinkafi questions who approved the Matawalle government’s engagement in gold trade, which he claimed was purchased from local miners.

We call on the current Zamfara State Government to publicly publish the handover note and transition committee report that detail the gold purchased by Matawalle’s administration and the status of the Zamfara State Gold Reserve Initiative.

Take notice that failure to publish the said documents within 14 days will leave us with no option but to report the matter to the EFCC, ICPC, NFIU, and NSA to thoroughly investigate the legality of the Bello Matawalle government’s engagement in solid minerals while the Federal Government had suspended mining activities in Zamfara State to combat armed banditry.”