- Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State blamed APC’s defeat in the Osun governorship election on interference from Abuja-based politicians
- Sule made the remark while presenting INEC acknowledgement slips to APC candidates in Lafia ahead of the 2027 elections
- The governor warned APC candidates in Nasarawa to avoid sycophancy, anti-party activities, and secretly backing candidates from rival parties
Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over nine years of experience covering politics, elections, public affairs, and governance in Nigeria and Africa.
Lafia, Nasarawa state – Abdullahi Sule, governor of Nasarawa, has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) could have won the Osun state governorship election had certain politicians based in Abuja not interfered with the process.
Legit.ng reports that Sule, a chieftain of the APC, spoke on Tuesday, August 18, in Lafia during a ceremony where Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) acknowledgement slips were presented to APC gubernatorial and state House of Assembly candidates ahead of the 2027 elections.
Source: Twitter
Governor Sule said:
“APC lost partly because of the Abuja politicians, you know, because if not for some of these Abuja politicians, there was no way for APC to lose in Osun.”
Sule warns about governors’ electoral power
Beyond apportioning blame, the governor said the Osun result carried a broader lesson about the authority a sitting governor holds over electoral outcomes in their state.
“What it means is that the power of a sitting governor is not something you can joke around with. That’s the message that was sent, actually, in Osun,” Sule said.
He also took aim at those who welcomed the APC’s defeat, saying they had failed to grasp what the result actually demonstrated. “So, for people who are celebrating, they don’t even understand what the hell they are celebrating. What they are celebrating is that the power of a sitting governor in Osun is what has stopped them from winning,” he said.
Sule then pointed to Nasarawa, noting that his own state “has one hell of a sitting governor,” though he stopped short of making any direct predictions about the party’s performance in 2027.
Sule warns APC candidates against anti-party
Turning to the APC candidates assembled before him, the governor urged them to run clean, loyal campaigns and resist the temptation to covertly support opponents from other parties.
“When you are campaigning, campaign for APC. Don’t go with the drama that maybe I can actually campaign for myself and campaign for another candidate of another party, if you do that, you know, people will see,” he cautioned.
He added:
“I don’t believe in this anti-party, I don’t believe in this realignment, I don’t believe in that. And I’m begging you also not to believe in the same.”
The governor also advised candidates to immediately contact INEC to correct any errors in the spelling of their names on the acknowledgement slips, so their details appear accurately on ballot papers.
Deputy Speaker of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Mohammed Oyanki, confirmed that representatives from all 24 state constituencies attended the event. He told the governor that members from the Nasarawa Northern Zone had a “special assignment” to support Sule’s expected senatorial campaign after his tenure as governor ends.
Watch the viral video of Governor Sule’s assessment of the Osun election 2026 below via a post on X:
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Ondo: Mimiko joins APC
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Olusegun Mimiko, a former governor of Ondo, formally joined the ruling APC.
Mimiko, who governed the state between 2009 and 2016, had resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Joining the ruling party at the APC secretariat in Ward 7, Ondo West Local Government Area (LGA) of the state, the former governor said he took the decision in order to join President Bola Tinubu in moving the country forward.
Source: Legit.ng