Cold War Between Tinubu And APC Governors Over Agent List Unsettles Campaign Camp

Cold War Between Tinubu And APC Governors

 

OpenLife News reports that the cold war between President Bola Tinubu and governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has worsened over the handling of party agents for the 2027 general elections, unsettling the President’s campaign camp.

Indications have emerged that the APC National Working Committee (NWC) has bypassed the governors and directed its candidates to submit the names of their proposed party agents directly to the national secretariat to prevent possible sabotage during the polls.

The move, which represents a departure from the party’s established protocol where state chapters traditionally handle such submissions, is understood to be part of a strategy to safeguard electoral victory in states where some governors are suspected of working against the party’s interests.

Multiple sources within the party hierarchy confirmed that the decision was taken after intelligence suggested that some state governors were allegedly orchestrating a scheme to install loyalists as APC polling agents while simultaneously financing candidates on opposition platforms.

According to a statement by a South-West group, the Oodua Progressive Youths League, through its General Secretary Wale Abdulwaheed, some governors whose preferred aspirants lost the party’s National Assembly primaries directed them to seek tickets from opposition parties and contest against APC candidates.

The group further alleged that the governors had reached agreements with opposition parties on the selection of polling agents, with plans to submit the names of their loyalists, who remain APC members, as the ruling party’s officially recognised agents in their respective states.

The development comes amid aloof posture of some northern governors towards the President’s re-election bid. Upon his return from his recent overseas vacation, President Tinubu was said to have expressed dismay that state governors were not doing enough to enlighten their people on the achievements of his administration.

Barely two months ago, Vice President Kashim Shettima noted that not more than five state governors from the northern region were demonstrating tacit support for the President’s re-election, a statement his media office later clarified as referring to the build-up to the 2022 APC presidential primary.

But speaking with The Guardian yesterday, a North-West governor who is also seeking a second term said Shettima’s position reflects the present situation within the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF).“We have a situation in the PGF, which is also affecting the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. The President promised to wade into the misunderstanding among the governors, but no concrete action has been taken,” he said.

He added that three major considerations underlie divided loyalty of some colleagues in the North, including the travails of former Kaduna governor Nasir el-Rufai, the President’s directive to the Finance Ministry to publish disbursements which is seen as targeting governors on local council funds, and his open support for FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and his Rainbow Coalition.

A member of the National Assembly from Ondo State, who is also an APC candidate for the 2027 elections, confirmed the NWC directive, saying the party had bypassed Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and asked candidates to submit agents’ names directly to the national secretariat, with forms already in candidates’ possession.

Governor Aiyedatiwa, however, denied directing any aspirant to contest against APC candidates on another platform, describing those accusing him of anti-party activities as “naysayers, blackmailers, and slanderers,” insisting: “I have zero tolerance for anti-party activities. I have never engaged in anti-party activities in my life.”