Shinkafi

Shinkafi is a Local Government Area in Zamfara State of Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Shinkafi an area of about 674mk2 and population of 135,649 (2006 Census). It shares boundaries with Isa Local Government Area (Sokoto State) and Niger Republic from the north, Zurmi Local Government Area to the South and South-East, Maradun Local Government Area and Raba Local Government Area (Sokoto State) by the west. Distance from the State Capital, Gusau is approximately 116 km.

== History == In the early days of 1802 before the Jihad of Usman Danfodio, an Islamic scholar named Mallan Muhammadu Zabo, one of the ancestors of the Borno Empire migrated along the east of the area. He led an entourage in search of green pasture for their flocks. Mallan Zabo was wealthy and took with him many flocks, birds, horses, his wives and children as well as some slaves. It is also evident that the entire entourage that came along with him were part of the Barebari people that settled firstly in a nearby Village called ‘Badarawa’. The entourage later stopped at a valley near a river they named “Tafkin Kaiwa” which they made as their first settlement.