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Zainab Abioye
The Peoples Democratic Party in Kano State has replaced its previous governorship candidate, Muhammad Bello Dalha, with Muhammad Sani Abacha, son of former military head of state, General Sani Abacha, ahead of the 2027 governorship elections.
Abacha was affirmed as the party’s candidate at an expanded Kano State PDP executive committee meeting on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, following Dalha’s withdrawal from the race. Multiple reports, including Vanguard and TheCable, independently reported the development.
The development means that Abacha will return to the Kano governorship contest on the PDP platform, having also contested the 2023 governorship elections as the party’s candidate. The 2023 candidate list released by INEC confirms Mohammed Sani Abacha as the PDP governorship candidate in Kano at that time.
Announcing the change, Kano PDP Chairman, Dr Bello Gambo Bichi, said Dalha had earlier emerged from the party’s governorship primaries but later withdrew following consultations involving stakeholders in Kano and Abuja.
Bichi explained that the withdrawal required another process to fill the vacancy.
“The law says that following withdrawal, a replacement primary must be held. This is what brought us here today. We have affirmed Muhammad Sani Abacha as the gubernatorial candidate of our great party in Kano state,” he said.
The party subsequently conducted a replacement primary, with Abacha formally declared the winner by the constituency.
The committee’s chairman, Abba Abdullahi, said the exercise was conducted in accordance with party guidelines and applicable electoral rules, according to reports of the exercise.
The party nominated former PDP state chairman and former Commissioner for Lands and Agriculture, Alhaji Yusuf Ado Kibiya, as Abacha’s running mate.
According to the party leadership, the decision was part of efforts to reconcile the different tendencies within the Kano PDP and consolidate the party structure ahead of the 2027 elections.
Bichi said the reconciliation agreement also resulted in changes to some of the party’s National Assembly and State House of Assembly candidates.
He added that officials from the Independent National Electoral Commission were present and witnessed the replacement operation.
Abacha’s emergence gives the PDP a household name in the 2027 Kano governorship contest.
He contested the 2023 governorship election on the PDP platform. INEC’s official list of candidates for that election recorded Mohammed Sani Abacha as the party’s Kano governorship candidate.
The 2027 governorship election is scheduled for February 6, 2027, according to the current election calendar released by INEC.
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