Politics
How APC Tumbled Project Tambuwal In Sokoto
Following the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the governorship election in Sokoto State, the chairman of the party in the state, Hon. Muhammad Bello Aliyu Goronyo, while addressing a press conference in Sokoto, traced the root cause of the party defeat to unprecedented misuse of security apparatus by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to arrest, harass and intimidate its members towards undermining their freedom of mobilising and voting for their preferred party.
He also alleged that innocent citizens were killed while its teaming members were subjected to harrowing treatment by the leadership of the APC.
Responding, the APC told the PDP in Sokoto state not to look far but blame itself for suffering a round defeat in the governorship and state assembly elections held penultimate Saturday.
Addressing newsmen at the party secretariat, the Sokoto State APC Chairman, Honourable Isa Sadiq Achida said the multiple failures of the ruling PDP in Sokoto was behind their political defeat.
According to Acida, “while we understand the frustrations of the PDP as a result of their rejection by the people of Sokoto State, we would like to observe that they are the architects of their failure.
“This is because their non performance in the sectors of education, health, water supply and rural development, are unprecedented in the history of Sokoto State.
“Indeed, the destruction of the local governments administration and the virtual collapse of the entire State Government Civil Service system, are only a few, of the reasons, that brought about their downfall.
“As I speak to you today, a greater percentage of the Sokoto State Civil Servants are yet to receive their February salary, just as the monthly impress for Ministries in the State has become history for long.”
A PDP stalwart, Faruku Shuni, informed The Tide source that a post mortem analysis of their defeat at the election from their situation room centered on their choice of candidate.
He said, “though the deed has been done, it has heavily dawn on us that, the unilateral and unchallenged ‘imposition’ of our governorship candidate, was our major albatross at the poll.
“To keen followers of politics in Sokoto, the sudden emergence of Malam Sa’idu Umar Ubandoma, with no electoral weight aside being an appointee as commissioner and secretary to the state government was, a major factor that led to the defeats of the party in the state.
“It is after the loss that we now realise that we did virtually nothing to adequately treat and heal the wounds and moreso, covered a lot of grounds on the sudden emergence of Malam Ubandoma as our party flagbearer.
“Imagine the governor supporting his former SSG who has no political experience, at the expense of his deputy, Manir Dan’Iya, who commands massive grassroots support. Too bad, too late for us.
“The deputy governor, Manir Dan’Iya, was the party followers’ choice candidate. Upon the governor’s sole decision to pick Ubandoma ahead of the party popular candidate, the opposition APC, went into jubilation, over the wrong choice but, the governor could not see the handwriting on the wall.”
“Recall that Malam Sa’idu Umar, ran on the ticket of PDP with Sagir Bafarawa, the son of former Governor Dalhatu Attahiru Bafarawa as the deputy governor candidate. Observers however see the former governor as an old horse with less grip on the hold of the state politics.
Buttressing the friction within the PDP fold, Faruku Shuni disclosed that, the situation degenerated to a state where the deputy governor and his aides became the butt of joke from the Ubandoma camp, after clinching the governorship ticket.
“There was a large concern within the PDP fold which started like a rumour but grew into a subject of interest when followers of Malam Sa’idu Umar were calling out the deputy governor on social media platforms, asking when he would move to opposition APC,” he alleges.
Rather than healing the self-inflicted open sore on the ‘imposition’ of Ubandoma, the sore was left to fester when loyalists of Manir Dan’Iya, were outrightly sidelined in the composition of the state presidential and governorship campaign committees.
Realizing that the rug had been pull under his feet, Manir Dan’Iya, who was handed the political suicide ticket to confront Senator Aliyu Wamakko for the Sokoto North senatorial seat, recoiled into his shell. He never printed a campaign poster nor hoisted a billboard. He passively participated in the party campaigns.
When he could not stomach the maltreatment on his godson any longer, renowned philanthropist and grassroots mobilizer, Alhaji Ummaru Kwabo, led the exodus of his foot soldiers out of PDP. Ummaru Kwabo alignment with the APC, marshalled by Senator Aliyu Wamakko, ultimately dismantling Tambuwal’s political project.
The conjecture whether Dan’Iya snubbed his godfather or play-along, by staying back in PDP and slug it out with Senator Aliyu Wamakko in the inconclusive senatorial contest where he polled 103,134 votes against Wamakko’s 114,866 votes, in a matter of days will come into the open.
However, a political analyst, Dr Suleiman Tsafe, posited that, the appointment of Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, as the Director General of Atiku Presidential Campaign Committee, was a major factor that contributed to the defeat of PDP in Sokoto state.
He said, “the moment Tambuwal was appointed as the DG campaign, I knew it will be difficult for the party to win the state. Since his appointment as the DG, he hardly had time to spend in the state to coordinate affairs of the party towards the election.
“You can trace the history of campaign DG to the 2015 general elections when Rotimi Amaechi, the then governor of Rivers State was the DG of Buhari campaign, he lost his state to APC.
“In 2019, Bukola Saraki, was the campaign DG of Atiku presidential team and at the end he lost his state to the opposition again.
“Look at this year, both Sokoto and Plateau State governors who were the campaign DG of PDP and APC lost their states as well.
“I believe it’s a major factor as the position of DG will not give room for the leader to do the needful as it relates to the politics of the state which should have been a major priority.”
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.