2027: Gathering Political Storm to Unseat Bago in Niger

Laleye Dipo writes on the gathering political storm against Governor Mohammed Bago and the ruling All Progressives Congress, a development that has made the party jittery.

With the 2027 general elections around the corner, the political atmosphere in Niger state too has started gathering momentum with defeated aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and some former cabinet members of Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago defecting to the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Also, some members of the party who did not secure tickets to return to the house of assembly for another term as legislators in 2027 are reportedly grouping preparatory to their jumping ship and teaming up with opposition parties. The legislators have already formed a group known as the Group of 15.

As a result, the once styled one party state has changed appellation with the creation of two major opposition political parties active for now. The plan of the defectors is to unseat Governor Bago.

According to investigations, majority of these politicians are from the Niger South Senatorial zone ( Zone A), a district that controls a large chunk of votes and from where Governor Bago contested and won the governorship of the state in 2023 after representing Zone B (Niger East) for three terms.

Investigations, however, revealed that the opposition to the realization of the second term dream of Governor Bago is secretly being backed by political heavy weights from within and outside the state with some of them even very prominent in the ruling APC.

The grouse of all these politicians, it was learnt, was their allegedly being shortchanged by the APC during the conduct of the party primary election.

One of the aggrieved politicians and former Senator Mohammed Bima said “no primary election was held in the state last May” as claimed by the party adding that Governor Bago “unilaterally handpicked the candidates of the APC for the 2027 elections”

His position was corroborated by the incumbent Senator representing Niger South senatorial zone in the National Assembly who incidentally defeated Bima in the 2023 race, Mr Peter Nda Alikali.

Alikali, erstwhile member of the PDP on which platform he won election defected to the APC, one, to get the ticket of his new party and secondly to win a return ticket to the Senate. His ambition has however fallen flat as he lost the APC ticket to son of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mr Mohammed Sani Kutigi. Alikali seems to have also lost out in the new arrangement because the senatorial ticket of his new group has now been given to Alhaji Ndarani.

The new group at a well attended gathering held recently at the State PDP Secretariat endorsed a former boss of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Alhaji Mohammed Mamman Nami as it’s governorship candidate after the man who won the ticket earlier, Abubakar Sulaiman stepped down for him. The PDP confirmed the replacement of Abubakar by Nami.

In a statement, the party said “ The People’s Democratic Party, Niger State Chapter has affirmed the nomination of the former chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Alhaji Mohammed Mamman Nami as it’s candidate for the 2027 Niger state governorship election.

“The affirmation followed a meeting of the state executive committee, outgoing Governorship candidate, Abubakar Sulaiman Nyannamuwo and local government party Chairmen, convened to formally affirm the party’s candidates for the forthcoming general elections.

Sulaiman also personally confirmed stepping down for Mani stating that his decision was taken in the “interest of the party, it’s unity and the overall progress of Niger state”.

Namis name did not appear on the INEC portal when the names of governorship candidates for various political parties in the state were unveiled recently. The name of Sulaiman Abubakar remained on the portal as the PDP standard-bearer

Despite this, Nami is now the talk of the town and the major issue in the political calculation of the state as far as the governorship contest in 2027 is concerned. He is seen as the man that can wrestle political power from the Farmer Governor as the APC candidate is called.

The Nami group is rumoured to belong to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike’s Rainbow Coalition

The ADC group is also fighting Bago and the APC from another front.

The party has a former Director in the Federal Ministry of Works, Alhaji Kpautagi as it’s candidate. Kpautagi like Nami and Bago are from the Niger South senatorial zone though has the backing of some political bigwigs in the state from the Niger East senatorial zone and the Niger North Senatorial district.

Kpautagi has already picked a former Commissioner in the administration of Governor Bago, Alhaji Mamman Musa as his running mate a decision that has not gone down well with a group within the ADC. The group opposing Musa prefers a Muslim/ Christian ticket unlike the present Muslim /Muslim ticket arrangement.

This may be an albatross for the ADC and an advantage for Governor Bago because Musa is from the Niger East senatorial zone which boasts of a huge christian population even though Bago himself and the APC parade a similar arrangement.

One interesting aspect of the entire scenario is that 15 “defeated” House of Assembly members including the House Deputy Speaker, Hon Afinniki Dauda have joined the battle against Governor Bago though the House leadership has quickly denied any plan by the members to defect to the PDP or ADC.

Speaker Sarkindaji said the entire membership of the house are APC and fully supports the presidential aspiration of President Bola Tinubu and second term bid of Governor Bago.

Spokesman of the APC in the state, Musa Sarkinkaji, dismissed claims that the party is jittery as a result of the realignments of former members of the party to the PDP and the ADC. According to him: “People are allowed to move from one party to another, it is their fundamental human right which nobody can take away from them.”

He, however, maintained that the APC remains solid and is poised to win the 2027 election at all levels.

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