Was A Federal Lawmaker From Zamfara Assaulted For Defecting From PDP To APC?
On April 8, 2026, the official handle of the opposition coalition party on X, @ADCVanguard_, claimed that a federal lawmaker was recently brutalized in Zamfara state after his defection from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. The post, which has a 56 seconds video showing a crowd of people beating an individual, is captioned, “BREAKING: This is what happens after a PDP federal Lawmaker has recently defected to the APC and declared his total support for the reelection of President Tinubu in Zamfara, when he visits his Constituency. The North is as far as 2027 is concerned. Falle Daya Ce”
When this report was published, the post had about 53,500 views and over 1,420 replies, reposts, quotes, likes, shares and bookmarks. In the comment section, @jidejohn2003 said “The Federal lawmaker does not have a name? and which location in Zamfara did this incident happened? When people want to be shady, that is when they leave details out in their post”
VERIFICATION
NV-A took screenshots from different angles of the video and examined it through reverse Google image search. The result showed that this was not a recent event, as it was posted on December 17, 2025.
In December 2025, an elected lawmaker in Zamfara State was physically assaulted by angry residents in Dansadau, Maru Local Government Area. The victim was identified as Kabiru Mikailu, who represents Maru South Constituency in the Zamfara State House of Assembly. He was slapped, dragged, and manhandled by a crowd during a visit to the community. Security operatives had to rescue him from the mob.
Residents accused the lawmaker of poor performance in office, neglecting his constituency after the election, failing to visit or engage with constituents and lack of visible development projects.
On December 25, 2025, it was reported that six members of the Zamfara State House of Assembly (state lawmakers, not federal legislators) defected from PDP to APC. These lawmakers cited internal party crises, alleged constitutional breaches in the Assembly and poor legislative management.
Premium Times identified these defecting members as Bashar Aliyu (Gummi I) – who is the factional speaker; Nasiru Abdullahi (Maru North), Bashir Masama (Bukkuyum North), Bashir Bello (Bungudu West), Amiru Keta (Tsafe West), and Muktar Nasir (Kaura North).
During the defection, there were no reports of assault from credible sources like Premium Times, TheCable, Punch Newspapers.
Mikailu who was assaulted in December 2025 for poor performance is still a member of the PDP. He is a state-level legislature at the Zamfara State House of Assembly, not federal as stated in the claim.
CONCLUSION
The claim that a federal lawmaker was assaulted in Zamfara over his defection from PDP to APC, is MISLEADING. Findings reveal that the assault was as a result of frustration by members of his constituents over poor representation, and not over defection. The lawmaker who was assaulted was a state lawmaker, not federal one and still a member of the PDP.
