Nigeria: Kano 2027 - NDC Accuses APC Over Omission of Governorship Candidate As Court Sets Date for Hearing

What the report says

Nigeria’s opposition politics in Kano State has been pulled into a legal dispute over the 2027 governorship race. According to Premium Times, distributed by AllAfrica, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) says the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) helped engineer the exclusion of its candidate, Aminu Abdussalam, and his running mate, Mustapha Kwankwaso, from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s candidate list. NDC vice-presidential candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso publicly alleged that the omission was deliberate and part of an effort to keep the party off the ballot.

The APC rejected the accusation, saying the missing name was the result of internal conflict within the NDC after its primary election, not outside interference. Kano APC chairman Umar Doguwa described the claim as false and challenged the NDC to provide evidence linking the APC or Governor Abba Yusuf to the court case.

Court records cited in the report show that the Federal High Court in Kano issued an interim injunction on an ex parte application, restraining INEC from publishing or altering the NDC-related governorship list while the case is pending. The suit was filed by three plaintiffs against INEC and the NDC, and the judge ordered accelerated hearing. Justice Samuel Amobeda later fixed the matter for hearing on 2 November. The case matters because it could affect who is recognized as the NDC’s governorship candidate in Kano ahead of the 2027 election, and it reflects the wider struggle over candidate nomination and party control in one of Nigeria’s politically important states.