A frontline gubernatorial aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nasarawa State and former Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, has raised the alarm over a plot to manipulate the scheduled governorship primary in favour of Governor Abdullahi Sule’s preferred candidate.
Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday in Lafia, the Director General of the 2027 gubernatorial movement, Musa Hussein, alleged that ward executives and officials have been subjected to undue pressure to work for Governor Sule’s preferred candidate ahead of the party’s primaries.
According to him, the claims to mobilise the government’s machinery have raised serious concerns about the credibility of the party’s primaries in the state.
He said, “Equally troubling are reports of intimidation directed at public office holders, including local government officials, councillors, and aides, allegedly being coerced to support a particular aspirant under threat of removal.
“This is unacceptable, public officials, representatives of the people, not instruments of political coercion.
” Governorship primary is a democratic contest, not a coronation. Every aspirant deserves a fair and level playing field. The use of state influence to favour one undermines party unity and erodes public confidence,” he said.
The director general said that all the gubernatorial aspirants seeking the party’s ticket enjoy equal status until the outcome of the Primaries, saying any declaration of a “Preferred choice” before the Primaries was deemed unofficial and without constitutional backing.
Hussein urged party officials at all levels to play neutrality, warning that any involvement in premature endorsement or partisan alignment before the primaries would be considered misconduct and would be resisted.
The ex-IGP group, therefore, called on the national leadership of the party to urgently review developments in Nasarawa State with a view to sanctioning any faulty process that runs contrary to the Electoral Act and the APC constitution during the party Primaries in the state.
