An alleged N135 billion debt said to have been incurred by the administration of Governor Umar Namadi in 2025 has sparked a heated debate between the two rival factions of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Jigawa State.
The controversy was sparked by a popular social media post from Malam Zakari Sidi Kafin-Hausa, a former Senior Special Assistant to Governor Danmodi on Health Monitoring, claiming that the state had accumulated “over N134 billion” in loans during the year.
He said, “When you include the over ₦40 billion loan that was taken about nine months ago, the total debt Jigawa has incurred in this year 2025 has reached over ₦134 billion.”
Sidi, in a telephone conversation with Daylight Reporters, further stated that the figure “exceeds the amount projected to be borrowed in this year’s budget by more than ₦5 billion.”
Sidi warned that the matter should not be trivialised, saying that some individuals may attempt to politicise it for their own selfish motives or benefits. “The truth is that a time will come when we will regret keeping silent about this unwholesome trend, he avered.
However, in swift reactions, the Special Assistant to Governor Namadi, Malam Umar Suleiman Kafin-Hausa, refuted the allegations as “baseless, misleading, aimed to dent the governor’s personal reputation, as it lacks an iota of truth just to bring unusual confusion.”
He insisted that the Jigawa State Government had not taken any new loan from Zenith Bank, clarifying that what the State House of Assembly approved “is not a loan, nor is it borrowing.”
“It is simply an approval for the process of receiving the state’s share of revenue due to it from the Federal Government through the Gas Delivery Company (Gas Revenue Share).”
He stressed that the Federal Government, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would pay the money in full, adding that the arrangement was intended only to ensure early access to funds, not to burden the state with debt.
Suleiman further argued that several states — including Kaduna, Ekiti, and Niger — had used similar financial arrangements to access their gas revenue shares through commercial banks.
“Therefore, what Jigawa has done is the same lawful arrangement many organised states have been using, with the same allocated funds,” adding that there is nothing hidden or suspicious about it,” he said.
The disagreement continues to fuel political tension within the Jigawa APC, with supporters from both factions intensifying debates on social media.
