Former Nigerian foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar has challenged the outcome of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary in Bauchi State, alleging that the process was manipulated in favour of former governor Mohammed Abubakar.
Abubakar secured the APC ticket after defeating six other aspirants in the primary election. The chairman of the party’s governorship and state assembly primary committee in Bauchi, John Abang, announced that Abubakar polled 57,517 votes to emerge victorious.
According to the results, Tuggar came second with 26,001 votes, while Nura Manu Soro garnered 13,638 votes. Bala Wunti received 13,648 votes and Kabir Ma’aji scored 8,157 votes.
Tuggar, who resigned as foreign minister to contest the governorship race, said he had expected a transparent and credible primary election whose outcome would be accepted by all participants.
Speaking in an interview published by DC Hausa, Tuggar alleged that the APC leadership had predetermined the outcome of the contest.
“In the build-up to the election, the national chairman said that Mohammed Abubakar had already been chosen as the APC candidate in Bauchi State,” Tuggar said.
He further accused Ali Pate, Nigeria’s coordinating minister of health and social welfare, of lobbying President Bola Tinubu against his candidacy.
“The minister from our state (Pate) met with Mr. President and cried in front of him, begging him not to let me become the candidate in Bauchi state,” Tuggar said.
“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.”
Tuggar said political contests should be decided by voters rather than by political influence.
“What we know how to do is go to the polls and give the people the chance to vote for whomever they want,” he said.
“No one stopped our minister from resigning and contesting. The President had instructed his cabinet that anyone wishing to contest must resign before March 31st.”
“He should have resigned and contested instead of just handpicking the APC candidates. If you want to contest, let’s go out and campaign to the people; if they vote for you, that’s fine, and if they don’t, that’s also fine.”
The former minister also alleged that the conduct of the primary had contributed to growing dissatisfaction within the ruling party.
“Our hope is that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will look into the injustice happening within the APC, which is causing many prominent politicians to leave the party,” he said.
Neither Pate nor the APC leadership immediately responded to Tuggar’s allegations.
