Dikko Radda’s Fight From Within

President Bola Tinubu went out of his way to convince about a dozen state governors to dump the political parties that elected them into office and join the ruling All Progressives Congress.

Today, the party has 31 state governors, and at least 34 of the country’s 36 governors are backing the president’s re-election bid.

But even before the elections have been held, it appears some of the president’s men are systematically chipping away at the authority of these same governors. Or maybe it isn’t the handiwork of the president’s men. Still, a quiet but consequential shift is taking place within the ruling APC’s power structure. It could be a sign of what’s coming and what governors should expect after 2027.

Across the country, “the Presidency” is increasingly challenging the ability of state governors to determine who gets federal appointments and who carries the party’s ticket to the National Assembly.

The emerging pattern is unmistakable: the Government House may still control the machinery of state politics, but Abuja is increasingly reserving the right to decide the final beneficiaries.

Recent events in Katsina, which led to the arrest and questioning of two of the state governor’s security aides, are the clearest current example.

The bitter rift between Governor Dikko Radda and Ibrahim Masari, President Bola Tinubu’s political adviser, has become a proxy battle over who controls the state’s APC structure.

The replacement of a Katsina minister seen as aligned with the governor’s political interests further demonstrates that federal appointments are no longer necessarily a reward for gubernatorial loyalty.

The development has unsettled the political equation in a state where the governor once appeared to wield considerable influence over Katsina’s federal representation.

Benue tells a similar story. Governor Hyacinth Alia’s preferred candidates emerged in the contest for some National Assembly seats, only for nominees backed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, to subsequently gain ground.

The reversal showed that the outcome of a state primary can be altered when a more powerful political interest intervenes from Abuja.

In Ondo, the APC’s final list of National Assembly candidates also reportedly departed from the choices that had emerged from the state-level process.

Again, the episode reinforced the perception that governors no longer have the last word on who flies the party’s flag.

In Katsina, however, that notion appears to have been taken a step further. Masari doesn’t seem to be simply campaigning for the president. Political activities point to a concerted effort to supplant the state governor.

He is not on the ballot for next year’s election and would be expected to map out a strategy for the president to win in every state. But Masari appears to have singled out Katsina, raising questions about his endgame. And if Masari isn’t out campaigning for the presidential election, it raises an even bigger question.

It points to a broader strategy to diminish the governors’ monopoly over political patronage while strengthening the Presidency’s control of the party’s federal architecture.

The governors remain powerful. But increasingly, they are being reminded that in the APC, ultimate power may reside in Abuja.