The Yusuf Tuggar Foundation has rejected a former Bauchi governor, Mohammed Abubakar, as the sole governorship flagbearer of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the 2027 election.

The secretary of the foundation, Shehu Ningi, announced this at a news conference in Bauchi on Tuesday.

Mr Tuggar, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, lost his bid to secure the party’s ticket during the governorship primaries held in May.

The chairman of the APC governorship primary election committee, John Abang, declared Mr Abubakar the winner by defeating Mr Tuggar and five other candidates in the election.

Mr Abang said Mr Abubakar polled 57,517 votes, while Mr Tuggar garnered 26,001 votes, and Bala Wunti got 13,648 votes.

Other aspirants included Nura Soro, who secured 13,638 votes; Kabir Ma’aji got 8,157 votes; Baba Suleiman, polled 7,688 votes; and Yakubu Abdullahi, secured 7,181 votes.

However, Mr Ningi dismissed Mr Abubakar’s purported declaration as a governorship candidate, alleging that there were no governorship primaries in the state.

“We declared the declaration as purported because it was made by M.A. Abubakar himself, rather than through an official announcement by the appropriate organ of the APC. Such a development is unusual and unprecedented.

“To date, the party has not publicly and officially confirmed the declaration. However, the continued silence of the party has understandably given rise to the impression that the self-declaration may have been tacitly endorsed,” he said.

Mr Ningi said the executive committee members of the foundation considered the selection and declaration of Abubakar to be objectionable.

He said that on June 2, the foundation sent an objection and appeal letter to the national leadership of the party to address their grievances.

The secretary said the prayer of the appeal highlighted four main items, namely: absence of a governorship primary, adverse consequences for the party, contradictory statements regarding Mr Abubakar’s purported emergence, and the principle of rotation and equity.

Mr Ningi urged the party leadership to revisit the matter in the spirit of justice, fairness, internal democracy and the collective interest of the party to enable it to win elections in the state.