Matawalle’s Abuja mass wedding turns into a guest-list test for Tinubu’s northern coalition

Abuja will be abuzz on Friday, 6 February, when Nigeria’s minister of state for defence, Bello Matawalle, holds a mass wedding for nine of his 30 children, from four wives.

The minister will give in marriage four sons and five daughters in what promises to be a high-profile ceremony at the Central Mosque in Abuja.

Beyond the spectacle of nine siblings marrying on the same day, the event underlines a long-standing tradition of intermarriage among the powerful northern political class. The identities of the spouses-to-be point to strategic ties of power, wealth and influence across families.

In Abuja, the point is not the romance but the guest list. The mass wedding will be read as a public headcount of Matawalle’s relevance inside the All Progressives Congress (APC) after losing Zamfara in 2023 – and as a test of whether his influence now runs through the defence ministry or still rests on old north-west networks.

Senior APC figures, north-west governors and powerbrokers from Sokoto, Kano and Katsina are expected to be courted for the front row, alongside financiers and traditional titleholders tied to the families involved.

The optics will matter: if the hall fills with serving office-holders it looks like a show of northern cohesion behind President Bola Tinubu’s security team; if it is dominated by Zamfara insiders and former officials it reads more as a provincial rally designed to keep Matawalle’s machinery intact for the next round of primaries.

Matawalle, who turns 57 in a few weeks, has spent nearly three decades in public life. A former schoolteacher and civil servant, he entered politics in the late 1990s and won the election into the Zamfara State House of Assembly.

At the start of the Fourth Republic in 1999, he served as a commissioner under then-governor Ahmed Sani Yerima. In 2003, he moved to national politics, representing Zamfara in the House of Representatives for 12 years until 2015, when his first bid for the governorship failed.

He returned to prominence in 2019 after the Supreme Court unseated Mukhtar Idris as governor, paving the way for Matawalle – who came second in the poll – to be sworn in. However, his attempt at a second term in 2023 failed, as he was defeated by the current governor, Dauda Lawal.

Tinubu later appointed him minister of state for defence.

A talk-of-the-town wedding

While mass weddings are not unusual in northern Nigeria, one involving nine siblings is a novelty. Matawalle does not shy away from the spotlight. Polygamy is a norm in northern Nigeria, but not many polygamists have 30 children.

According to a joint invitation card released recently, the names of the minister’s four sons getting married are Ibrahim, Suraj, Fahad and Mah’d. The five daughters are Safiya, Maryam, Nana, Farida and Aisha.

Daughters marrying into elite families

Strikingly, Matawalle’s five daughters are marrying into wealthy and politically influential northern families.

Farida is marrying into the Liman dynasty. Her husband-to-be, Ibrahim Sahabi Liman, is the son of Sahabi Liman, a wealthy businessman and philanthropist from Kaura Namoda, Zamfara State.

Sahabi Liman has royal connections, being a son-in-law of the late emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero. He also married a daughter of the late Alhaji Abubakar Yuguda, a respected administrator and former member of the Federal Judicial Service Commission.

He is the founder of the Sahabi Liman Islamic University, Kaura Namoda, and holds the traditional title Dan Masanin Kaura Namoda – “the learned man of Kaura Namoda”.

He is widely celebrated in Hausa popular culture, notably in a song titled Sahabi Liman Kaura, dedicated to him by the late legendary griot Alhaji Mamman Shata.

Two of the groom’s brothers – Kabiru Sahabi Liman and Rabiu Sahabi Liman – are prominent politicians in Zamfara. Kabiru served as commissioner for budget and economic planning under former governor Abdul’aziz Yari before defecting to Matawalle’s camp.

Matawalle later appointed him special adviser. Rabiu, on his part, is eyeing a senatorial seat in 2027.

Aisha finds love in Sokoto’s power bloc

Matawalle’s daughter Aisha will marry Ibrahim Mukhtar Maigona, son of prominent Sokoto businessman and politician Alhaji Mukhtar Bello Maigona, a close ally of former Sokoto governor Aminu Tambuwal.

Maigona, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member, benefited from political networks built during Tambuwal’s administration and is linked to Calder Construction Company (Nigeria), founded in 2015. He holds the traditional title Zannan Sokoto, a prestigious position within the Sokoto Sultanate, and previously served as chairman of the Sokoto State Pilgrims Welfare Agency.

Safiya picks a well-connected technocrat

Safiya Bello Matawalle will marry Yazeed Shehu Danfulani, the chief executive officer of the Nigeria Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), appointed by Tinubu in May 2025.

Before his appointment, Danfulani served as Matawalle’s commissioner for commerce and industry (2021-2023) and later as his adviser on special duties. Born in April 1986, the 39-year-old holds the traditional title Turakin Zamfara.

He is already married to Suraya Sule Lamido, daughter of former Jigawa governor and ex foreign-affairs minister Sule Lamido. Their wedding in August 2022 was a high-profile affair attended by political heavyweights across party lines, including former vice president Atiku Abubakar, former vice president Namadi Sambo, former national security adviser Lieutenant General Aliyu Gusau (retired), and several serving and former governors.

Fondly called Garkuwan Matasa – “shield of the youth” – by his admirers, Danfulani is also the founder of the Yazeed Care Foundation that supports youth through scholarships, healthcare and business grants.

Maryam and Nana form bonds with father’s loyalists

Maryam will marry Umar Faruq Ibrahim Danmaliki, son of Matawalle’s special adviser on political matters, Ibrahim Danmaliki – a former Zamfara commissioner and one of Matawalle’s most vocal loyalists.

Danmaliki frequently acts as a political spokesperson for Matawalle and coordinates grassroots support for him.

Nana will marry Nasiru Mu’azu Magarya, a former speaker of the Zamfara State House of Assembly and son of the late Alhaji Mu’azu Abubakar Magarya, a former village head in the Zurmi Local Government Area.

The sons and their brides

However, unlike the daughters, the sons’ spouses appear to come from more humble backgrounds.

Ibrahim Bello Matawalle will be marrying Khadijat Taminu Abdullahi, Suraj will marry Yasmin Sa’id Amin, Fahad will tie the knot with Maimunat Buhari Bello Amierah, and Mah’d will take Hussaina Gwamna as his wife.

A political spectacle

The announcement of the mass wedding is generating buzz in social and political circles. The ceremony is shaping up not just as a family celebration but as a political gathering that highlights the enduring role of marriage as a tool of alliance-building among Nigeria’s northern elite.

A Kano-based human rights lawyer and public analyst, Abba Hikima, agrees that the mass wedding is as much a political statement as a cultural event.

Hikima said while mass weddings in northern Nigeria are not unusual, “what makes this case striking is the scale and the attention it generates – seeing nine siblings marrying on the same day”.

“It is not unusual. In many polygamous families, several children often reach marriageable age at the same time,” he tells The Africa Report, pointing to a culture where state governments and wealthy individuals frequently sponsor mass weddings for underprivileged people as part of social welfare initiatives.
(The Africa Report)