If the allegations of candidate imposition are not resolved, members of the APC Elders Forum in the Adamawa Central senatorial zone have cautioned that President Bola Tinubu may have trouble winning Adamawa State in the 2027 election.
Mohammed Jimeta, a spokesman for the organization, said at a news conference in Yola on Thursday that the current administration runs the danger of making the same errors that led to the PDP’s 2015 loss.
“In 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan and other PDP chieftains sat in Abuja and appointed the present National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, as the governorship candidate. However, the people of Adamawa State voted for the person they wanted as governor,” Jimeta said, referencing the governorship election in Adamawa.
Mustapha Salihu was his opponent in the primaries for governor, not the Senate, therefore he questioned how he became the party’s candidate for the Senate.
Mustapha Salihu ran for governor, not the Senate, and even the president knows it. In the Central senatorial zone, Abdulraheem Abbati was the candidate who ran for senator.
If Salihu wants to run for senator in the zone, how does he do it? “What do you think?” Jimeta enquired.
The elders argued that Abdulraheem Abbati had a right to run for the seat and that it was only reasonable to offer him the ticket.
Jimeta also stated that although other LGAs in the zone had elected senators in the past, Yola North has never had that chance.