The long-simmering debate over how the All Progressives Congress (APC) will pick its governorship candidate in Nasarawa State has been conclusively settled, and the verdict is clear: it will be a fight at the ballot box.
A senior APC figure, Markpa Malla, delivered a blunt and unambiguous message Thursday, declaring that any talk of a consensus arrangement for the governorship ticket is finished.
“The issue of consensus in Nasarawa State is dead and buried,” he said, in remarks that drew an emphatic line under weeks of political maneuvering and back-room negotiations that had threatened to short-circuit the democratic process.
The declaration ends what had become an increasingly contentious standoff within the ruling party in the north-central state. Malla confirmed that four governorship aspirants have formally entered the race, each having purchased both nomination and expression of interest forms, making a direct primary election not just desirable but inevitable.
“Nasarawa State is clearly going into direct primaries,” he stated. “We presently have four aspirants who have expressed interest and have picked up the gubernatorial and nomination forms.”
The push for consensus had been championed most visibly by Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada, who represents the Nasarawa West Senatorial District at the National Assembly and is widely regarded as the preferred successor of incumbent Governor Abdullahi Sule.
Senator Wadada had hinted that he and other party leaders were working to secure a consensus candidate for the 2027 governorship election to enable him to succeed at the polls.
That gambit, however, ran headlong into determined resistance. Former Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu rejected the consensus move outright, insisting he would proceed with the contest and purchase his expression of interest and nomination forms.
His campaign organization was equally forceful, with its director general, Musa Hussein, declaring, “The only legitimate process for selecting the party’s governorship candidate in Nasarawa State remains the direct primary election scheduled for 21st May 2026. This process must be transparent and free from interference.”
Governor Sule himself eventually acknowledged the direction of travel, addressing the press following a marathon meeting with stakeholders and aspirants from across the state’s 13 local government areas, saying the gathering provided a platform for all key stakeholders to freely express their views on how the party should navigate the primary election season.
The APC in Nasarawa State subsequently disclosed that members had agreed to conduct a direct primary election for the governorship and other elective positions, describing the decision as being in line with the spirit of fairness and equity.
Malla’s assurance of a clean process comes against a backdrop of persistent concerns about the integrity of the exercise. A support group within the APC, the Nasarawa APC Integrity Forum, accused party officials of being compromised and unable to conduct free and fair governorship primaries, alleging that officials at state, local government, and ward levels were under intense pressure to align with the governor’s position.
The group called for independent officials to oversee the primaries, arguing that those currently in charge lacked the moral standing and courage to ensure credibility and alleging plans to use ward officials to validate prearranged results.
Senior APC figures have also weighed in. Former APC chairman in Keffi Local Government Area, Muhammad Bello Yakub, cautioned that focusing on a single governorship aspirant at this early stage could undermine internal democracy, discourage participation, and weaken party unity, warning that the party risked a recurrence of the setbacks witnessed in the 2023 general elections, during which it lost presidential votes, three senatorial seats, two House of Representatives seats and many State House of Assembly seats to opposition parties.
Youth leaders from across the state’s 13 local government areas have also called for peaceful and credible primaries, lamenting the political tension generated by supporters of the various aspirants and urging both national and state party leadership to ensure the exercise is conducted without violence.
Among the aspirants who have declared is Hassan Liman, a senior advocate of Nigeria, contesting for the governorship seat for the second time, who has vowed to resist any attempt to manipulate the primaries or engage in political extortion.
With the governorship primary now scheduled for 21st May 2026 as part of a revised APC national timetable, the clock is ticking. Malla’s message to all political actors is unequivocal: the era of elite dealmaking in Nasarawa is over, and the verdict on who will fly the APC’s governorship flag in 2027 now rests with ordinary party members across the state.
Whether those members will be allowed to exercise that right freely and fairly, free from intimidation, manipulation, or the long shadow of incumbency, remains the defining question as Nasarawa braces for one of the most fiercely contested primary elections in its recent political history.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
The Nasarawa APC governorship race has officially moved past consensus politics. With four aspirants formally in the race, direct primaries scheduled for May 21, 2026, are now the only path to the party’s ticket, a victory for internal democracy over backroom dealmaking.
Governor Sule’s preferred successor, Senator Wadada, will not be handed the ticket; he will have to earn it, most notably against former IGP Mohammed Adamu. The credibility of that contest, however, remains under scrutiny, with allegations of undue pressure and prearranged outcomes still casting a shadow over the process.
