Politics
Tambuwal, Ishaku, Ortom Battle For PDP Gov’s Forum Chairmanship Position
With the tenure of the Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, ending soon, together with his chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum, the battle to succeed him has begun to gain momentum.
At least, three governors from the North are gearing up to contest the position, when it becomes vacant.
The occupant is expected to be a critical factor in the next presidential election in 2023.
The position of the PDP Governors’ Forum started with former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio in 2014, when a crisis of succession erupted in the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), with then Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State and Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State squaring up to each other.
Chairmanship of the PDP Governors Forum is rotated between the North and South. The immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, had handed over to his colleague from Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo, who at the expiration of his tenure handed over to the current chair, Dickson.
However, as Dickson is billed to bow out this February, the governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom, and the Taraba State governor, Darius Ishiaku, are said to be lobbying intensely to become the next chairman of the PDP governors.
Their aspiration is already generating tension, which is quite understandable, because the next chairman of the forum would either be a major factor in the 2023 presidential run or in serious consideration as the party’s standard-bearer. It is widely believed that there is a subtle understanding among key actors in the two leading political parties that the next president of the country would be chosen from former governors.
According to a source, which pleaded anonymity, the PDP Governors Forum chairman is seriously in contention, as the governors are believed to control the delegates and are also the major financiers of the party.
There are 15 governors currently elected on the platform of the party,
The forum, as a powerful bloc, is a formidable force in the party, especially for the second term governors, who still nurse future political ambitions. Wherever the governors throw their weight is almost always where the majority of the people head.
Tambuwal is the deputy chairman of NGF, the main umbrella body of the 36 governors in Nigeria.
The source told our source regarding Tambuwal, “If he becomes the next chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, coupled with the fact that he was Speaker of the House of Representatives for four years, then, he would be unstoppable in his presidential quest in 2023.
“This is why his alleged resolve to become the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum is causing some ripples among his colleagues. He is also going about his ambition discretely. PDP as a political party cannot intervene in who becomes the chair, but the party always has interest because of the enormous powers the forum usually enjoys.”
On the other hand, Ortom is not being taken seriously. He is a newcomer, who just defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Although he was National Auditor of PDP from where he was appointed minister during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, before ending up as governor, the odds are not in his favour.
According to the source, “Ortom’s consideration in the race is basically because he is a second term governor from the North-central and the only PDP governor from the zone.”
Ishaku, on his part, is one of the second term governors of the PDP from the North-east and also a former minister during the administration of Jonathan. The source considered his aspiration critical, as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is from the zone. But it is not clear if Atiku is nursing a presidential ambition ahead of 2023 or whether he would support Ishaku. However, many believe it might not be in Atiku’s interest for Tambuwal to emerge the next chairman of PDP governors’ forum.
“It is obvious both Atiku and Tambuwal still have their eyes on the presidential job,” the source explained, adding, “Whoever becomes the next chairman of the PDP governors is entirely the prerogative of the governors.
“But don’t rule out intervention from some politicians.”
On the role of the South-east governors, the source said, “They are qualified especially, the second term governors, but the rotation of the office of the chairmanship of the forum between the North and the South basically rules them out.
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday brushed aside the order of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which ordered him to stay proceedings in a suit that sought deregistration of the African Democratic Party (ADC), Accord Party and three others.
The Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision of a panel of three Justices had on May 22, 2026 directed the Federal High Court Judge not to proceed with the suit until an appeal pending before them and filed by Accord Party is resolved.
In a Certified True Copy Enrol Order of the Superior Court, Justices Mohammed Danjuma, Adebukola Banjoko and Oyejoju Oyewumi asked the lower Court Judge to stay proceedings until all issues on the appeal filed by the Accord Party were resolved
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State had, through the Accord Party, applied to justice Lifu to join him as a defendant in the deregistration legal battle instituted by a group of former legislators.
The contention of the Osun State governor was that he had a stake in the Accord Party, being the platform he was seeking re-election in the August 15 gubernatorial poll in the state.
In his ruling, Justice Lifu on April 27 ruled against the Osun State governor, rejecting his request to be joined in the suit to defend his own position and interest.
Not satisfied with the Federal High Court decision, the Osun State governor, through his lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), moved to the Court of Appeal in Abuja where he challenged the Justice Lifu decision to refuse to allow him join the suit.
After listening to the argument canvassed, especially that he has interest to protect as Accord Party gubernatorial candidate for Osun State governorship election, the three Justices of the Court of Appeal, unanimously directed Justice Lifu to allow them look into the grievances of the governor.
In specific terms, the Court of Appeal Justices directed Justice Lifu not to proceed further with the matter and fixed October 27 to determine the interlocutory appeal of the appellant.
However, when the certified enroll order and notice of appeal were served on Justice Peter Lifu by Mr Adetunbi (SAN), the judge rejected it on the ground that it was a ploy to arrest his judgment in the matter.
Although the judge had adjourned his judgment delivery in the matter indefinitely, he finally made a dramatic turn around on Monday and proceeded to deliver the judgment that has now proscribed the five political parties.
Actor turned politician, Mr Kenneth Okonkwo, has rejected the choice of former Rivers State Governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, as the running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a statement on Monday, Mallam Bolaji Abdulllahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, announced the party’s choice of Mr Amaechi.
However in a statement, Mr Okonkwo said that the choice of Mr Amaechi from the South South strengthens the continued marginalization of people from the South East.
According to the former spokesperson of the Labour Party, any arrangement that would not factor a person from the South East either as president or vice president in the party is anti-Igbo.
He contended that Chief Raph Nwosu, who founded the ADC in 2005 and willingly surrendered it’s leadership to Senator David Mark did not do so to entrench Igbo marginalization in the party.
The former actor said: “I heard from the social media that ADC has picked its vice presidential candidate from the South-South. If this is true, it is unfortunate, as this will continue the crude marginalisation of the South-East.
“This geo-political zone has neither produced a president or vice president since 1999. To deny the South-East the opportunity to produce the president or vice president in the ADC in 2027, will amount to perpetuating the marginalisation.
“The ADC was founded by Ralphs Nwosu from the South-East in 2005. He made the sacrifice to give up the party in 2025 for the coalition to usher in a better Nigeria. He couldn’t have made that sacrifice to marginalise his own people.
“I did not join the coalition to assist in marginalisation of my own people further. I am of the opinion that if we made a sacrifice to give up the national chairman and the president, it will amount to unpardonable injustice to deny us the vice president in 2027.
“I joined politics to fight for a better Nigeria where no region, geo-political zone, or person will be marginalised.
“The only favour I asked Atiku Abubakar, who openly declared that he is the pathway to the presidency of the South-East, is to show it by choosing someone from the South-East to be his vice.
“If it is confirmed that he has chosen a candidate from the South-South, I wish him well. I am not favourably disposed to campaigning for any presidential ticket that does not have a person of South-East origin as president or vice in 2027”
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, on Monday said that the numerous projects being executed by President Bola Tinubu across the states in the southeast will give him upper hand over other presidential candidates during next year’s general elections.
Prof. Yilwatda stated this at the Abakaliki Township Stadium during a mega rally organized by the Ebonyi State government and Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, during which President Tinubu and other APC candidates for the 2027 general elections were adopted.
According to the APC National Chairman, no President had done for the southeast region what President Tinubu has done for them and expressed the confidence that the president would not only win in Ebonyi State but in the entire South East.
Prof. Yilwatda also used the occasion to address growing insinuations in some quarters that Ebonyi State had been conceded to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Dismissing the claim, Prof. Yilwatda said the state would not allow the PDP to win any position in the forthcoming general election.
“We will return President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Francis Nwifuru as Governor of Ebonyi State in 2027.
“We want to return all APC senators, members of the House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates in 2027.
“Nobody has conceded Ebonyi to the PDP. Therefore, there is no vacancy in Ebonyi State. Ebonyi PDP has no place, and there is no vacancy at all in the Government House come 2027,” the APC National Chairman declared.
He commended the people of the state for their support for President Tinubu and urged them to re-elect him in the next presidential election in appreciation of what he has done for the state and the entire South-East through infrastructural transformation and human capital development.
Governor Francis Nwifuru, who also spoke at the event, said the state had no other presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections apart from President Tinubu.
He declared that Ebonyi remained a stronghold of the APC and vowed that the party would deliver the President in the state.
Gov. Nwifuru said President Tinubu had shown exceptional commitment to the state and deserved total support for appointing Senator Umahi as Minister of Works, a role he said Senator Umahi had performed creditably.
“Ebonyi has no other presidential candidate apart from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and we will return him in the presidential election.
“We are standing here today to tell the whole world, especially those using the President’s name to orchestrate division and confusion in this great state, that we have only one party, and that is the APC.
“This statement became necessary because some people are going around claiming they have discussed with Mr President and that he has handed Ebonyi over to the PDP. They are also saying that Chief Nyesom Wike is their leader and that Wike said the President has given Ebonyi to him.
“Ebonyi is not for sale. We are restraining ourselves because the people are with us. Nobody should push us because we have what it takes to confront anyone trying to destabilise us.
“We want to tell Mr President that he has earned our votes. He gave us what we had never had in Eastern Nigeria — the office of the Minister of Works. And this Minister of Works is not sitting idle; he is working,” he stated.
Senator Umahi, in his remarks, said President Tinubu had done what no other President had done for Ebonyi State and the entire South-East by executing numerous projects across the state and the region.
“Ebonyi State is a one-party state under Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru. We are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done a lot, not just for Ebonyi State but for the entire South-East and other geopolitical zones,” he said.