Divided Loyalty On 2027 Re-election: Northern Governor Lists Tinubu’s Sins

Divided Loyalty On 2027 Re-election

 

OpenLife News reports that divided loyalty has hit the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a northern governor has listed what he described as President Bola Tinubu’s sins against governors elected on the party’s platform, worsening the cold war between the Presidency and the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF).

In a reports earlier published in The Guardian, a North-West governor who is seeking a second term said despite attempts to pretend that all was well, the APC leadership’s inability to resolve lingering misunderstandings was taking its toll on the party’s preparedness for the 2027 general elections.

According to him, the majority of APC governors in the North are not bold to canvass support for the President’s second term, with billboards in city centres carrying Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima’s photos while those in the hinterland do not.

The governor listed three major considerations behind the divided loyalty.

First is the travails of former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, despite his fight for Tinubu’s election in 2023, which many northern governors see as a signal of abandonment.

Second is Tinubu’s directive to the Finance Ministry to publish disbursements, which is seen as a direct target at state governors, particularly on the use of local council funds.

Third is the President’s open support for the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and his Rainbow Coalition, which the governor described as the last nail in the coffin of the icy relationship between the PGF and the Presidency.

“We have a situation in the PGF, which is also affecting the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF). The President promised to wade into the misunderstanding among the governors, but no concrete action has been taken,” he said.

He also pointed to the estrangement of Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, who doubles as PGF Chairman and Scribe of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.

“There are governors who want the PGF chairman to hand over the office and face his assignments on the Campaign Council and the Renewed Hope Ambassadors.

“But, the chairman maintains that the tradition has always been that handing over should be to a second-term governor after general elections,” he added.

The internal rift has now unsettled the campaign camp, forcing the APC National Working Committee (NWC) to bypass governors and direct its candidates to submit the names of their proposed party agents directly to the national secretariat to prevent possible sabotage during the 2027 general elections.

Multiple sources said the decision was taken after intelligence suggested some governors were orchestrating a scheme to install loyalists as APC polling agents while financing candidates on opposition platforms.

The Oodua Progressive Youths League, through its General Secretary Wale Abdulwaheed, alleged that some governors whose preferred aspirants lost the National Assembly primaries directed them to seek tickets from opposition parties and had reached agreements with opposition parties on the selection of polling agents.

A member of the National Assembly from Ondo State confirmed that the APC NWC had bypassed Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and directed candidates to submit agents’ names directly to the national secretariat.

Aiyedatiwa, however, denied the allegation, describing his accusers as “naysayers, blackmailers, and slanderers,” and stating: “I have zero tolerance for anti-party activities. I have never engaged in anti-party activities in my life.”

The cold war, which became more open upon Tinubu’s return from his recent overseas vacation when he expressed dismay that governors were not enlightening their people on his achievements, recalls Vice President Shettima’s comment barely two months ago that not more than five northern governors were demonstrating tacit support for Tinubu’s re-election.

However, the VP office said the statement referred to the 2022 primary build-up but which the North-West governor insisted reflects the present reality.