Barely a week after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) declared Sadiya Farouq, a former minister of humanitarian affairs under the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari wanted, her husband, former Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar has resigned from politics.
Sadique Abubakar, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bauchi in the 2023 election, said he was quitting Nigeria’s ‘murky politics,’ without providing further details.
He served as Nigeria’s chief of air staff between 2015 and 2021 under the administration of late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
After his retirement, he was appointed Nigeria’s ambassador to Chad and, in 2022, secured the APC governorship ticket in Bauchi ahead of the 2023 elections.
He came second in the poll with 432,272 votes behind Bala Mohammed, the incumbent and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who won with 525,280 votes.
The former air force chief was viewed as a potential ADC governorship hopeful for the 2027 elections following recent consultations with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
But in a terse statement on Sunday, Abubakar said he is stepping away from “the murky waters of Nigerian politics.”
“I say Good bye to the murky waters of Nigerian Politics,” he wrote on his official X account.
“I no longer belong to any political party and will therefore not vie for any office. However I will continue to support ordinary Nigerians to the best of my ability.”
Abubakar had earlier resigned from the APC and joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in July 2025 after aligning with the opposition coalition leaders.
His sudden resignation comes barely a week after his wife, Ms Farouq, who served under the Buhari administration between 2019 and 2023, was declared wanted for an “alleged case of Criminal Conspiracy, Abuse of Office, Diversion of Public Funds.” .
The EFCC, in a statement published on its website, said of her: “Farouq, 52, is an indigene of Zamfara State, and her last known address is: EN 008, Okpo River, off Agulu Street, Maitama, Abuja.