Zamfara Govt Accuses Matawalle of Using NSA’s Office to ‘Abduct’ State Officials

Chuks Okocha in Abuja and John Shiklam in Kaduna

Zamfara State Government has raised the alarm over what it described as the alleged abduction of one of its officials in Abuja, accusing federal security operatives of being used to harass and intimidate opposition figures within the state.

The state government claimed that the operation was orchestrated by Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, describing the development as troubling.

Citing an instance, the government said Saleem Abubakar, a technical assistant in the office of the Zamfara State governor, was allegedly abducted in the Federal Capital Territory by operatives linked to the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA).

In a statement, spokesman to the Zamfara State Governor, Sulaiman Idris, said the incident had heightened concerns over the growing use of federal institutions for political persecution.

“We received a shocking and distressing message that Saleem Abubakar, a technical assistant in the office of the Zamfara State Governor, was abducted in Abuja yesterday,” Idris said.

The state government said the alleged abduction was carried out without an arrest warrant, by a special security unit said to be operating from the NSA’s office.

“The illegal abduction was said to be carried out by a special forces unit from the office of the National Security Adviser,” the statement alleged.

It added, “The most unfortunate and worrying part of the abduction of Saleem Abubakar is that it was syndicated through the office of the NSA by the state minister for defence, Bello Matawalle.”

Idris alleged that Abubakar was taken to an undisclosed location and later moved between different facilities, which he said was an attempt to conceal his whereabouts and obscure accountability.

“The abductors, without an arrest warrant, took Saleem to an unknown location, which we later found out they moved him from to different facilities to cover their tracks,” he stated.

Describing the incident as a dangerous precedent, the Zamfara State government warned that such actions, if left unchecked, could undermine the neutrality and professionalism of Nigeria’s security architecture.

The government said, in the statement, “This is a perilous precedent that all Nigerians must strongly condemn. No amount of desperation is worth compromising the neutrality of the security agencies.”