Senator Ahmed Wadada has emerged as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nasarawa State after winning the party’s primary election held across the state on Friday.
Mr Wadada, who represents Nasarawa West Senatorial District in the Senate, defeated six other aspirants in the contest conducted across the 147 electoral wards in the 13 local government areas of the state.
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The Chairman of the APC Governorship Primary Election Committee, Theodore Maiyaki, announced the result in Lafia late Friday night.
Mr Maiyaki said Mr Wadada secured 195,285 votes to emerge winner of the exercise.
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According to the results announced by the committee, former Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu came second with 39,675 votes, while a professor, Mohamed Sani-Haruna, polled 5,844 votes.
Hassan Liman, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), scored 863 votes, while Zakka Yakubu secured 336 votes.
Fatima Abdullahi-Adamu polled 246 votes and Tanimu Adabson received 65 votes.
Mr Maiyaki said the committee monitored the accreditation process and collation of results to ensure transparency and compliance with the party’s constitution and electoral guidelines.
“Having satisfied the requirements of the APC constitution and electoral guidelines, Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada is hereby declared winner and returned elected as the APC governorship candidate for the 2027 election in Nasarawa State,” he said.
Mr Wadada’s emergence comes weeks after Governor Abdullahi Sule publicly endorsed him as his preferred successor.
PREMIUM TIMES reported on 16 April that Mr Sule announced his support for Mr Wadada during a meeting with political appointees at the Government House in Lafia.
Following the endorsement, Mr Wadada described the governor’s support as “a call to higher service” and appealed to his supporters to avoid attacks against other aspirants.
The APC primary was preceded by intense political consultations and debates within the party over zoning, consensus arrangements and direct primaries.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that APC stakeholders in the state eventually ruled out consensus and adopted direct primaries after multiple aspirants purchased nomination forms.
One of the defeated aspirants, Mr Liman, had insisted before the election that he would not step down for any candidate despite the governor’s endorsement of Mr Wadada.
The Nasarawa APC primary also followed recent legislative primaries in the state, where several high-profile politicians, including the Speaker of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Danladi Jatau, and the son of former APC National Chairman Abdullahi Adamu, lost their bids for party tickets.
Political observers say Mr Wadada’s victory further consolidates Governor Sule’s influence within the APC ahead of the 2027 general elections in Nasarawa State.
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