….The Ali Pate’s connection

….Top Bauchi stakeholders leave party in droves 

……Party stalwarts bemoans Abubakar’s emergence, says he is unpopular and unelectable 

Secrets Reporters

The All Progressives Congress (APC), Bauchi Governorship Primary election may have come and gone, but its echoes linger still as the fate of APC as a party in the state looks bleak, with the majority of Bauchi citizens and political analysts positing that come 2027, the APC may lose the state at the Governorship election and even at other elections. 

It is no longer news that former governor Mohammed Abubakar was declared the winner of the APC Governorship election in Bauchi, but what is news is the process that led to his eventual emergence, a process that some of the aspirants bemoaned as not really a process, even as some also hinted that all of it was shrouded in secrecy, while some called it an aberration.

Events leading to the primary election

The moment the All Progressives Congress, APC, began selling nomination and expression of interest forms to aspirants for different elective positions of those who want to fly the party’s flag in the 2027 general election, eight candidates emerged as aspirants for the party’s Bauchi governorship primary election. They include former governor Mohammed Abubakar, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, the former minister of foreign affairs, Nura Manu Soro. Others are Bala Maijama’a A. Wunti, Kabir Baba Ma’aji, Baba Abubakar Suleiman, Yakubu Yakubu Abdullahi, and Senator Shehu Buba.

After the purchase of forms by these governorship aspirants, all were screened and successfully passed their screenings; the intense horse trading for the primary election began.

Political analysts who spoke to SecretsReporters said that soon after the screening of the aspirants and their subsequent clearing to contest, noise, or call it speculations and rumours began to fly of how political leaders in the party were working towards a particular candidate to emerge as the party’s flag bearer. 

“What started like mere rumours and speculations turned out to be true, because the electorates and other political actors started hearing news that some political actors and leaders in the state, were planning to make former governor Abubakar Mohammed the APC candidate for the 2027 gubernatorial election,” he said.

Speaking further he said; “It then became clear that yes, it is no longer a rumour but a fact that the political leaders in the state, chief among them the Minister of Health, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, and former Governor Isa Yuguda were all in the forefront to make sure that Mohammed Abubakar emerges as the party’s flagbearer against the wishes of the APC leadership, APC electorates in the state, even when we reminded them of the 2019 elections, where internal party friction led to the APC losing the state to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), they threw our advice to the wind.”

Corroborating what the political analysts said, days before the primary election, a former Bauchi State governorship aspirant, Captain Bala Jibrin, strongly warned party leaders in the state against the alleged plan to impose former Governor Barrister Muhammad Abdullahi Abubakar as the party’s candidate in the forthcoming primary elections. Jibrin gave the warning during a press conference held in Bauchi.

He specifically called out on former Governor Isa Yuguda and the current Minister of Health, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate out, asking them to protect their integrity and listen to the wishes of the electorate.

He also reminded Prof. Pate of the events surrounding the 2019 elections, when internal party disputes allegedly contributed to the All Progressives Congress (APC) losing the state to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Jibrin raised serious concerns about accountability during Abubakar’s administration between 2015 and 2019, questioning the former governor’s motive for seeking a return to Government House.

Findings by this medium indicate reasons adduced or conceived by Pate include the fact that MA has only one tenure to complete if he emerges as Bauchi Governor in 2027, and the coast will be clear for him in 2031 as he would have solidified his grip on Bauchi APC using Abubakar’s emergence now, there is the also the case of between him (Pate) and Tuggar the supremacy battle of who holds the grip in the Bauchi APC primary, who controls it and all the rest of that. 

More so, the issue of the objection to his being made the Minister allegedly by Tuggar and his group in 2023, with Tuggar’s circle adducing that Pate has never been a party’s man, an action Pate believed that if Tuggar had emerged as the APC candidate and eventually became governor, his political career may be dead.  

With all these and others, this medium learnt that there begin a pressure from the likes of Pate and Yuguda and others opting for a consensus candidate, a move aspirants like Tuggar, Shehu Buba, Manu Soro all rejected vehemently and opting for direct primary election.

Days before the Primary election, intense horse trading and political machinations were on the rise to the extent that one of the eight aspirants, Senator Shehu Buba withdrew from and declared that he is no longer interested in running for the party primaries in the APC.

In a statement issued by Comrade Sabo Muhammad, his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, the Senator said he took this step to show his disagreement with the state party affairs, especially what he called violation of the Nigerian 1999 constitution, the 2026 elections, APC constitution 2022, and party principles.

He said; “It will be recalled that before 19th April, 2026   which was the day Senator Shehu Buba Umar declared his acceptance of the clamour and calls from the teeming and dependable People of Bauchi State  including but not limited to his constituents, as it relates to the aspiration to the office of the Governor of Bauchi State, the party has been enmeshed in serious crisis of leadership in respect of key offices in the State executive committee such as State Secretary and Organising Secretary.

“To our utmost chagrin, however, a complete opposite of what the law says and the admonishment of Mr. President was the reflection of the conduct of the APC primaries commencing from the House of Representatives’ on the 16th May, 2026 to Senate’s on the 18th May,2026 and the House of Assembly which will take place today being 20th May ,2026 without exception also to the Governorship’s.

“The Party officials have practically been hijacked by persons who do not mean well for the party, having allowed themselves to be caged at undisclosed hotels in Bauchi State without appearing at the elections’ venues but releasing predetermined results of the elections with persons who are not people’s choices as winners, as they do not have electoral value in the forthcoming 2027 general elections”

Abubakar’s emergence, Pate use of Tinubu/ APC national chairman Nentawe to achieve his plan

Just like what Shehu Buba stated in his press statement when he withdrew from the APC primary election, that the Party officials have practically been hijacked by persons who do not mean well for the party, having allowed themselves to be caged at undisclosed hotels in Bauchi State without appearing at the elections’ venues but releasing predetermined results of the elections with persons who are not people’s choices as winners, as they do not have electoral value in the forthcoming 2027 general elections.

SecretsReporters gathered that AIG John Abang (rtd), who is the Chairman of the APC Governorship and House of Assembly Primaries Committee for Bauchi State, immediately, even before coming to the state for those primaries, has started the bidding of Ali Pate. 

Sources told this medium that in Bauchi, he was masked and entirely shrouded in secrecy as no members of the party stakeholders saw him or received him, because he was allegedly hijacked by Pate and his people. The source corroborated Shehu Buba’s assertion that the party officials from Abuja, led by John Abang, were caged at the Command guest house, Bauchi.

“Their political scheming and machinations started with the National Assembly primary elections, as no election was conducted for the National Assembly primaries; they just wrote results to whom they wanted,” he said.

“On the issue of the Governorship election primaries, before the day came, they were deep in the political scheming, and before you know it, the governorship primary election for the state was postponed to the next day, being Friday, and even the aspirants were kept in the dark,” the source told this medium.

More findings by us indicate that on Friday, being the day the primary was to be held, while the aspirants were waiting for the John Abang-led officials, the next thing they heard was that Abang and his officials had gone back to Abuja, and the next was that all the aspirants were invited to Abuja to see the president. The aspirants left for Abuja.

When they got to Abuja, they met with the National Chairman of the party, who told them the President would want to meet with them. Later on, the National Chairman of the party told them that the President would speak with them on the phone to tell them who he had chosen to be the APC flag bearer in the state.

The President told the aspirants that he wants them to help in him Bauchi and asked if they will agree to help him, they said yes. He asked them if they would accept whoever he chose among them as the flag bearer, and they all echoed yes, not knowing it would be the former governor, Mohammed Abubakar, and then he told them he had chosen Mohammed Abubakar to fly the party’s flag in the 2027 Governorship election for Bauchi. Soon after then, the former minister of the Foreign Affairs, Maitama Tuggar said congratulations to Abubakar and stormed out of the meeting in anger and disappointment.

All the aspirants were dumbfounded, because they never believed it was going to be Mohammed Abubakar that he will choose. 

However, a political source from Bauchi speaking to this medium about this scenario, said the underground plan was done by no other person other than Ali Pate, the Minister of Health.

“We know all these are just Pate’s plan and scheming; he succeeded in cajoling the president to have his wish done, and the President fell for it, without knowing how the Bauchi politics work,” the source said.

“Forget about all the results that John Abang and his committee were churning out, I call it the caricature of the century, ask him where did they election took place that he is now saying Mohammed Abubakar got 57,517 votes, Tuggar got 26,001 votes, Nura Manu Soro 13,638; Bala Wunti 13,648; Kabir Ma’aji 8,157. Who were the voters that voted for it, where, and where in Bauchi did the election take place, even the record of the time stamp showed that none of these contestants’ representatives signed to show acceptance. So who and who voted, we know the planned and schemed work that they did. Anybody who knows Bauchi election voting pattern and style knows that APC is in for a shock come 2027. The truth is that they have deceived the President,” he said.

“Wherever Mr Abang got those figures from, they did not come from Bauchi State. Across the state, no voting reportedly took place during the governorship primaries. As of today, no photographs, videos, or other credible evidence have emerged showing that primary elections were conducted anywhere in the state. Only Mr Abang appears to know where those votes came from,” he said.

This newspaper learned that Bauchi politics is always unique and it is known for the sophistication of its electorate.

Pundits averred to this medium that Ali Pate had apparently chosen not to contest. Instead, he was said to have sought the President’s backing for Mohammed Abubakar’s candidacy, reportedly on the understanding that Abubakar, if elected, would serve a single term and thereafter make way for him.

Further findings by this newspaper show that Pate has met with Tinubu privately to plead that he, Tuggar, should not be allowed to emerge as a candidate, just as Tuggar stated in his interview with DC Hausa.

He Pate met with the President and cried in front of him, begging him not to let me become the candidate in Bauchi state, and he even cried, lying down on the ground, a cry some say would be called crocodile cry or so. 

Even Tuggar affirmed this in his interview that; “There are many processes in politics, but we didn’t know that crying was one of them. Personally, I don’t fake cry; it is not in my nature, and I am not lazy.”

It was gathered that on May 22, Mohammed Abubakar reportedly told a public gathering that he had received the President’s endorsement, an assertion and claim that was only known to him and those who have the President’s ear, hinted to this newspaper that what he said was only a lie, as they hinted that he never met the president, not to mention of getting an endorsement from him.

This is because, as learned by this medium days earlier, the same Mohammed Abubakar had barely featured in discussions surrounding the ticket; this is because he is an unpopular and disliked candidate in Bauchi State, in fact, no astute political strategist would place him at the top of a ticket they intend to win.

And on the same day, it was gathered that his associates reportedly claimed in the media that he had emerged as the consensus candidate, even when no other aspirant had agreed to such a consensus, even Tuggar, corroborated that there has not been consensus arrangement and none has been reached and that he had signed no agreement endorsing any candidate—which is a crucial legal ingredient for the definition of a consensus candidate.

An APC stalwart told this medium on the condition of anonymity that; “The truth remains that Mohammed Abubakar is unelectable. He is unpopular among many voters in Bauchi State and would struggle to command significant electoral support. He is simply not worth the risk the APC is taking. Abubakar’s imposition is driving prominent politicians out of APC in Bauchi. 

Bauchi 2027: What does Abubakar’s emergence means for Bauchi APC

Though Mohammed Abubakar’s camp celebrates victory, the immediate challenge for the APC leadership will be managing the post-primary fallout, which is already seen happening, because many big APC stakeholders has either decamped to ADC or PRP.

The Bauchi politics as it is known is historically volatile and deeply factionalised; the APC’s electoral losses in 2019 and 2023 were largely blamed on internal sabotage and unresolved grievances among party elites, and it seems they APC still has not learnt their lessons.

To mount a successful challenge against a deeply entrenched ADC, PRP and even APM structure in 2027, Mr Abubakar will need to quickly reconcile other aspirants to avoid a repeat of the anti-party activities that previously cost the opposition party the state.