2027: Nasarawa APC And War Within

By Sanusi M. Zakari

There is a quiet storm gathering inside the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nasarawa State, and those watching closely say it has the potential to cause more damage to the ruling party than any opposition in the state ever could.

On the surface, the APC in Nasarawa appears invincible. The state’s opposition parties have been reduced to near irrelevance, and even the most prominent face of resistance to Governor Abdullahi Sule’s administration, former PDP governorship candidate Hon. David Ombugadu, made the journey back to the APC before reversing course and returning to his old party.

If that spectacle told us anything, it is that in Nasarawa State today, the real contest ahead of 2027 will not be fought across party lines. It will be fought within the walls of the APC itself.

Governor Sule’s record in office is not easily dismissed. His administration has delivered visible infrastructure, attracted private investors, recorded milestones in solid minerals development, and maintained relative peace and security across the state.

The governor has consistently credited these achievements to improved revenue driven by the fiscal reforms of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the evidence on the ground gives that claim considerable weight.

Fiscal discipline, monetary accountability and a measurable reduction in the influence of opposition parties have defined his tenure. By any fair assessment, Governor Sule leaves behind a record that would be difficult for his successor to ignore or surpass quickly.

But records, however impressive, do not settle the appetite of political ambition. And it is ambition, unrestrained and poorly disguised, that is now threatening to fracture the party that Governor Sule leads in the state.

The opening act of this internal drama appeared, at first, to be a minor squabble. Some officials in the Gayam electoral ward of the state APC chairman, Dr. Aliyu Bello, moved to suspend him from the party, claiming his office had been vacated.

The move was clumsy and ultimately failed. Dr. Bello fought back through legal channels, cleared his name, and was subsequently reelected for another term as state chairman.

But those who understood the politics behind the scenes knew that the removal attempt was never really about Dr. Bello. It was a symptom of something deeper, a sign that personal ambitions were already being arranged against the party’s internal order.

To understand why this matters so much, one needs to appreciate what the APC means to Nasarawa State and what Nasarawa State means to the APC. The state is widely regarded as the political laboratory in which the APC was born.

It was Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura who, as the only sitting governor elected under the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, provided the crucial ground for the merger that produced the APC in 2013.

That founding contribution gave Nasarawa a special place in the party’s history. The thought that this same foundation could now be shaken by the personal calculations of a few individuals is one that deeply unsettles serious members of the party.

There is also a pattern of transition in Nasarawa that has, until now, held firm. The state’s first civilian governor, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, handpicked the late Aliyu Akwe Doma to succeed him. Doma was not even a PDP member at the time. He belonged to the ANPP. But once Senator Adamu made up his mind, Doma was persuaded to cross over.

The story of that transition is told in many parts of the state. At a meeting held at the Super Cinema in Akwanga, supporters of the late Doma gathered to consider a mass defection to the PDP that would clear the path for Adamu’s announcement.

One woman at that meeting, Mrs. Esther Allu, refused to move. She said her late husband had instructed her never to leave the ANPP, and she kept that word even when everyone around her crossed. It was a minor detail in a larger story, but it illustrated how firm the hand of a sitting governor could be in determining what came next.

Senator Al-Makura applied that same firm hand in 2019. Despite the competing interests of several members of his cabinet who were eager to take over, he chose Abdullahi Sule. Senator Adamu had reservations, but he was brought along. The party held together, and Governor Sule won.

Now it is Governor Sule’s turn to exercise that same prerogative, and it is precisely here that the trouble has broken out into the open.

Governor Sule announced his preference for zoning the governorship ticket to Nasarawa West Senatorial District, consistent with a rotation arrangement that has long been part of the informal political understanding among the state’s three senatorial zones.

The reaction from some quarters was immediate and fierce. A section of party members, composed largely of those with personal ambitions that do not align with the zoning formula, rejected the arrangement outright.

They argued instead that merit and competence should determine who flies the party’s flag. It was a curious argument, given that every governor the state has produced under the civilian dispensation was considered qualified enough to hold the office. The real question, of course, is not one of merit. It is one of access, and those pushing that argument know it.

What followed was a series of manoeuvres designed to chip away at Governor Sule’s authority within the party. These same actors rejected the consensus mode of conducting primaries, a method the party had adopted successfully at the ward, local government, state and national congress levels.

They demanded a direct primary instead. Governor Sule, characteristically open and accommodating, agreed. He bent over backwards to carry dissenting voices along, even when the dissent appeared less principled than it did tactical.

The concession was seen by many within the party as a gesture of good faith. It has not, however, been met with a corresponding change in behaviour from those who pushed for it.

If anything, the demands have escalated. There are now reports that some of these same political actors are quietly exploring alternative platforms, shopping for a soft landing outside the APC in the event that they fail to achieve their objectives within it.

The implications of this are significant. A group that professes loyalty to the party while simultaneously preparing an exit route is not a group acting in the party’s interest. It is a group acting in its own interest and using the party as a vehicle for that purpose.

What makes this particularly perplexing to many APC members in Nasarawa is the disconnect between what these actors say in Abuja and what they do at home. In the federal capital, they present themselves as committed supporters of President Tinubu’s administration and his reelection bid. They speak the language of loyalty and continuity.

Back in Nasarawa, they work against the very party structures that make such support meaningful. A party that is fractured at the state level cannot deliver effectively at the national level. The argument that one can undermine the APC in Nasarawa while claiming to support Tinubu nationally is not just contradictory. It is dishonest.

It is worth recalling that President Tinubu is himself a product of zoning. His emergence as the APC’s presidential candidate in 2022 was shaped significantly by the principle that the South deserved its turn at the presidency.

Those who reject zoning in Nasarawa while celebrating Tinubu’s presidency are applying a standard they find convenient rather than one they genuinely believe in.

The APC’s national leadership cannot afford to watch this play out from a distance. The party’s chances in Nasarawa in 2027 depend on the cohesion of its state chapter, and that cohesion is currently under serious strain.

If the faction working against Governor Sule’s preferred direction is allowed to proceed unchecked, the damage it inflicts may prove difficult to repair before the election. A party that goes into a general election divided, with members shopping for alternative platforms and trading accusations of bad faith, is a party that has handed its opponents a gift they did not earn.

Governor Sule has done his part. He has kept the door open, adjusted his positions to accommodate critics, and conducted himself with a transparency that many politicians in his position would not have bothered to maintain.

The responsibility now falls on the party’s national leadership to bring these restless actors in line. They must be told plainly that the APC’s fortunes in Nasarawa are not negotiable, and that personal ambition, however legitimate it may feel from the inside, cannot be allowed to override the collective interest of a party that still has much to offer the state and the country.

Nasarawa APC must not be allowed to implode. The stakes in 2027 are too high for that.

Zakari, a political commentator, writes from Akwanga, Nasarawa State.