Former Foreign Affairs Minister Tuggar, Bala Wunti Crash Out As Ex-Governor Mohammed Clinches APC Bauchi Guber Ticket

Bauchi State- Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, and former Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) top executive, Bala Maijama’a A. Wunti, have both lost their bids to secure the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket for the 2027 Bauchi State election.

The exercise, which dragged on for several hours beyond schedule, was finally concluded on Saturday morning, with AIG John Abang (rtd), Chairman of the APC Governorship and House of Assembly Primaries Committee for Bauchi State, announcing the official results amid heightened tension among delegates and aspirants.

According to the final tally declared by the committee, former Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, staged a decisive comeback to clinch the party’s ticket after defeating six other contenders with a commanding 57,517 votes.

Ambassador Tuggar followed in a distant second position with 26,001 votes, while Nura Manu Soro polled 13,638 votes.

Bala Maijama’a A. Wunti, one of the prominent contenders and former NNPC official, recorded 13,648 votes in a closely contested middle pack.

Other aspirants in the race included Kabir Baba Ma’aji, who scored 8,157 votes, Baba Abubakar Suleiman with 7,688 votes, and Yakubu Yakubu Abdullahi, who polled 7,181 votes.

The outcome effectively ends the immediate governorship ambitions of Tuggar and Wunti under the APC platform, at least for the 2027 cycle, while repositioning Abubakar as the party’s flag bearer in what is expected to be a heated contest against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bauchi State.

Governor Bala Mohammed, who currently holds the state’s highest office, remains a central figure in Bauchi politics, having previously defeated the APC candidate in the 2019 governorship election.

Mohammed, who first came into office under the PDP platform, has maintained a strong political grip on the state since then.