It is different strokes for the Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, and the immediate past Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, in their pursuit of the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the upcoming 2027 general election in their respective states.
While Nwifuru emerged as the governorship candidate of the APC in Ebonyi after polling 199,483 votes in the party’s primary election held yesterday, Tuggar lost the party’s gubernatorial ticket in Bauchi State.
Announcing the result of the contest in Abakaliki, the state capital, on Saturday, the Chairman of the Electoral Committee, Aniekan Sunday Ekpo, declared the incumbent governor of the state the winner and returned him as the party’s candidate.
He said, “I hereby certify that I am the returning officer for the Ebonyi State Governorship Primary held on the 21st day of May, 2026, and the aspirants scored the following votes.
“In this case, we have one aspirant, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, and having satisfied the APC constitution and guidelines and scored the highest number of votes, he is hereby declared the winner of today’s primary election and is returned elected and nominated as the governorship candidate of the party in Ebonyi State.”
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However, in the APC gubernatorial primary in Bauchi, Tuggar lost the governorship ticket to a former governor, Mohammed Abubakar.
The outcome of the election was disclosed on Saturday morning by the chairman of the party’s Governorship and House of Assembly Primaries Committee in the state, AIG John Abang (rtd).
According to him, Abubakar defeated the ex-Minister—who tendered his resignation from President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet on 30 March to pursue his governorship ambition—and five other aspirants to clinch the ticket.
Abang noted that while the winner polled 57,517 votes, Tuggar came second with 26,001 votes, while Nura Manu Soro garnered 13,638 votes to earn the third spot.
Other contenders in the race included Bala Maijama’a A. Wunti, who scored 13,648 votes, Kabir Baba Ma’aji with 8,157 votes, Baba Abubakar Suleiman who secured 7,688 votes, and Yakubu Yakubu Abdullahi who polled 7,181 votes.