____Secret deals with Malami, PDP-ADC Bonds Threaten APC’s Victory
Rumours are swirling thick and fast in Nasarawa State political circles that Hon. Labaran Shuaibu Magaji, the Secretary to the State Government, is gearing up for a governorship run under the All Progressives Congress (APC) banner, even as he grapples with how to make the ambition public, with whispers that he has confided in close allies about an alleged promise from Governor Alhaji Abdullahi Sule to hand over the party ticket to him.
Magaji, who rose through the APC ranks from Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General to his current influential position as SSG, now stands accused by authentic party leaders of meddling deeply in internal party affairs, sowing confusion in areas where harmony once prevailed, a development that has cast a long shadow over his yet-to-be-declared 2027 guber aspirations and exposed fissures within the Toto Local Government chapter of the APC.
During a recent visit to his country home in Toto to partake in the ongoing ward and local government congresses, Magaji, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria whose legal stature demands exemplary conduct, brazenly flouted directives from both the national and state APC secretariats, which explicitly mandated the retention of executives who had served less than five years, a stance firmly backed by Governor Sule himself.
In Toto ward, positions held by loyalists who had not even clocked five years in office were secretly axed by Magaji, who handed them over to his alleged PDP loyalists with no track record of service or faith in the current administration, while at the LG level, he orchestrated the ouster of the party chairman, secretary, and other officials still within their four-year tenures, prompting sharp rebukes from serving council officials who warned that such moves blatantly violated party guidelines and risked derailing the congress process.
Today, Magaji finds himself mired in confusion, as the list of executives he unilaterally altered stands no chance of flying under the party’s strict rules, explaining why the much-vaunted Toto LG APC congress, described by his camp as a resounding success, remains shrouded in secrecy without any official unveiling of winners.
As the storm over Hon. Labaran Shuaibu Magaji’s meddlesome role in the Toto LG APC congress rages on, fresh details emerge painting the Secretary to the Nasarawa State Government as a close ally of former Attorney General Abubakar Malami, whose enduring influence as a leader in the Africa Democratic Congress (ADC) in Kebbi State underscores Magaji’s chequered political pedigree, long whispered to harbour anti-APC sentiments that now threaten to boomerang disastrously on the ruling party nationwide.
Having defected to the APC only as recently as 2015 from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Magaji’s insubordinate governorship ambition, fuelled by alleged backchannel assurances from Governor Abdullahi Sule, has escalated into a reckless power grab, with his recent congress manipulations poised to hand the APC a crushing defeat in upcoming general elections, all because he continues to parcel out party positions to his loyalists who remain firmly ensconced in the PDP fold, betraying the very progressives he claims to serve.
Magaji’s high-handed actions during the ward and LG congresses bypassed consultation with key APC stakeholders such as Governorship aspirants and other heavyweights whose buy-in could have lent legitimacy to the process, instead opting for shadowy deals that flout party guidelines and alienate the grassroots base that propelled the APC to power in Toto LG.
This blatant disregard for established protocols not only exposes Magaji’s PDP hangover, evident in his preference for allocating APC executive slots to non-committed PDP boys over tenured loyalists, but also risks fracturing the party at its most vulnerable local level, where unity is paramount ahead of primaries that could make or break his yet-unannounced guber bid.
With Malami’s ADC shadow looming large and Magaji’s 2015 switcheroo now haunting the APC, stakeholders are asking if this is the beginning of a broader anti-party sabotage that could spell doom for the progressives in 2027, or merely the desperate gambit of a man whose ambition outpaces his loyalty.
“If the exercise was truly successful, why has Magaji failed to announce the emergent executives, a nagging question that demands urgent answers from the SSG amid growing murmurs that these machinations are all in service of his shadowy governorship bid, where he reportedly claims the governor has anointed him as the next APC flagbearer.
Who exactly is Magaji afraid of, that he dares not declare his guber ambition openly while shortchanging loyal party executives in broad daylight, a misstep that now debases the APC’s standing in Toto LG and threatens broader party unity ahead of 2027 elections?
