Mustapha Salihu’s candidature and the burden of Nigeria’s troubled electoral history
By Mohammed Ismail
The sudden emergence of Mustapha Salihu as the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Adamawa Central has reopened one of the most troubling debates in Nigeria’s democratic evolution, whether political parties arbitrarily recycle defeated or unsuccessful aspirants into other elective positions after the close of valid nomination processes.
The practice raises deeper constitutional, legal and moral questions about internal party democracy, electoral fairness and the integrity of Nigeria’s democratic institutions.
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Until recently, Salihu was never associated with the Adamawa Central Senate race. He was fully preoccupied with preparations to contest the APC governorship primaries. To fulfill that ambition, he purchased governorship forms, built campaign structures across the state, mobilised supporters and openly campaigned for the office of governor and toured the 21 local governments of the state canvassing for support.
Salihu is a man who spent considerable resources, time and energy in the pursuit of APC governorship ticket. Therefore, his political identity throughout the nomination season was tied exclusively to the governorship race.
It therefore came as a surprise when he suddenly resurfaced as the APC senatorial candidate for Adamawa Central after the governorship process had effectively run its course.
The development represents not merely a political manoeuvre but a dangerous assault on democratic processes and the sanctity of party primaries. To say it mildly, the action represents a coup to democracy we all toiled to build.
The most cardinal pillar of democracy itself is free, fair and transparent election. Minus that, democracy will morph into the worst form of dictatorship as the power of the people to freely give legitimacy to leaders has been replaced by elites conspiracy.
Nigeria has witnessed similar electoral heists before. In 2023, former Senate President, Ahmad Lawan contested the APC presidential primary against President Bola Tinubu. After losing the presidential ticket, Lawan returned to seek the Yobe North senatorial ticket despite not participating in the original senatorial primary won by Bashir Machina. The matter generated national outrage and prolonged litigation before the Supreme Court eventually affirmed Lawan as the APC candidate.
Similarly, current Senate President Godswill Akpabio became engulfed in controversy after emerging as APC senatorial candidate for Akwa Ibom North-West under disputed circumstances despite earlier pursuing the presidential ambition of the party. At the time, even the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) publicly stated that it did not recognise the candidatures of Lawan and Akpabio because of controversies surrounding their nominations.
Those cases exposed a dangerous culture within Nigerian political parties, the treatment of party primaries not as binding democratic exercises but as fluid political arrangements subject to elite manipulation and last-minute substitutions. The Salihu controversy fits squarely within that troubling pattern that is why we must resist it.
It is glaring that Akpabio who came to the Senate glaringly through the backdoor only prioritizes the demands of the powers that made him the president against the wishes and aspirations of Nigerians, conveniently making the Senate an appendage of the executive arm of government.
In history, Akpabio’s sanate has acquired an unabashed notoriety in making and passing anti-peoples legislations while prioritizing executive bills which only exacerbates the existential crisis hobbling Nigerians.
Again, it must be restated that legally and morally, the issue goes beyond whether Salihu purchased forms or whether he was eventually submitted to INEC by the APC.
The real constitutional question is whether there was a valid, transparent and lawful senatorial primary through which he emerged after spending the entire nomination season pursuing another office.
Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 requires political parties to conduct valid primaries for all elective positions. The law envisaged a structured process involving purchase of forms, screening, participation in primaries and emergence through transparent democratic procedures.
That is why allowing an aspirant who in the estimation of many constituents did not subject himself to these lawful democratic processes becomes troubling especially after nomination windows have substantially closed. It also creates a notion where other candidates feel they do not matter.
It must therefore be restated that democracy cannot thrive where political parties reserve the power to reassign tickets at will while ordinary party members remain bounded by rigid timelines and procedures.
When political parties manipulate nomination processes to favour powerful individuals, then democracy itself will be subjected to eternal morbidity and eventual death.
That culture also weakens public trust in democracy, discourages political participation and reinforces the perception that electoral contests are predetermined arrangements rather than genuine democratic competitions.
The experience of Lawan and Akpabio in 2023 already left many Nigerians deeply sceptical about the potency of internal party democracy within the APC. Replicating similar scenarios risks further eroding confidence in Nigeria’s fragile democratic institutions.
Democracy survives not because elections are conducted, but because citizens believe the processes are fair, transparent and governed by law rather than political convenience.
Ultimately, the controversy surrounding Mustapha Salihu’s candidature may become another major legal test of the Electoral Act 2022 and the judiciary’s willingness to defend internal democracy within political parties.
Until the APC clearly demonstrates that due process was followed transparently and lawfully, the legal and moral shadow hanging over Salihu’s candidature is unlikely to disappear.
Ismail, the editor of FACTCHECKNEWS writes from Yola.
