Kebbi State Deputy Governor Umar Abubakar Tafida has pushed back against suggestions that his removal as Governor Nasir Idris’s running mate for 2027 stemmed from the Supreme Court’s ruling in their 2023 election case, amid conflicting accounts of how — and whether — he was consulted on his own replacement.
Governor Idris announced the change on Sunday at the Presidential Lodge in Birnin Kebbi, unveiling former Finance Commissioner Ibrahim Muhammad Augie as his new running mate for the 2027 governorship election.
APC National Organising Secretary Suleiman Argungu, delivering the announcement, said the party had reviewed the litigation trail from the 2023 poll — from the tribunal through the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court — and received legal advice recommending a different candidate for 2027.
Both Argungu and Idris insisted the decision carried Tafida’s full understanding and consent, with the governor stressing there was no personal disagreement between them and describing Augie as “a disciplined and good-natured person” he had known for years.
But the deputy governor’s camp has told a different story. Tafida’s media aide, Yahaya Danjadda, disputed the party’s account in a Facebook post, maintaining that Tafida was neither consulted nor informed before Augie was unveiled.
That conflicting narrative has fuelled scrutiny of the APC’s stated justification, since the party has yet to specify exactly what legal impediment from the concluded 2023 litigation would bar Tafida from contesting in 2027.
The underlying case dates back to the disputed 2023 governorship election, in which the PDP and its candidate Aminu Bande alleged, among other things, that Tafida had submitted a forged secondary school testimonial to INEC.
The Election Petitions Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and ultimately the Supreme Court all rejected the forgery allegation and affirmed Idris’s victory, with the Supreme Court delivering its final judgment on January 19, 2024 — a result that, on its face, cleared Tafida rather than disqualifying him.
Political sources close to the party attribute the real motivation to fears of a fresh legal challenge in 2027.
One APC insider suggested Abubakar Malami — now the ADC’s governorship candidate in Kebbi — was influential in the party’s 2023 legal victory and could exploit the same testimonial issue again if Tafida remained on the ticket, since Nigeria’s Electoral Act only allows candidate-qualification disputes to be raised as pre-election petitions.
A Kebbi APC chieftain, Alhaji Ahmed Sanusi, argued the party acted pre-emptively “to avoid trouble the opposition may bring again,” rather than in response to any adverse Supreme Court finding against Tafida.
Tafida remains in office as deputy governor; Sunday’s development concerns only his position on the 2027 ticket.
He previously dismissed a separate PDP allegation in 2024 that the government had operated in a “power vacuum” whenever Idris travelled, insisting that authority was always properly transferred to him in line with the constitution and that the administration remained united.
Both Idris and Augie hail from the Argungu Emirate, and the governor has continued to press APC supporters and party stakeholders to remain united behind the new ticket ahead of the 2027 election.
