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By Usman Garba
In Kaduna State, the political equation ahead of the 2027 elections appears to be taking a remarkably clear shape: it is Uba Sani all the way. The latest indication is not merely another endorsement from party loyalists. It is the decision by a group of APC aspirants who once nursed ambitions of contesting elective positions to collapse those ambitions into a broader political project and mobilise their structures behind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Uba Sani and other candidates of the party.
That development says much about the political sophistication of the Kaduna APC under Governor Uba Sani. More importantly, it suggests that the governor is gradually transforming what could have been a potentially fragmented succession battle into an organised coalition capable of facing the 2027 elections with greater cohesion.
The aspirants, operating under the APC Consensus Aspirants Forum, have chosen an unusual but politically consequential path. Having accepted the consensus arrangement and stepped aside, they have now resolved not to disappear from the political field. Instead, they intend to deploy the networks, supporters and grassroots structures they built during their individual campaigns towards the collective success of the party. That is smart politics.
At the press conference in Kaduna, the chairman of the forum, Godwin Luka (Mai Solar), made the position unmistakable. According to him, the aspirants accepted the consensus process initiated by Governor Uba Sani because of their commitment to the party and their belief in the performance of APC governments at both federal and state levels.
But the deeper significance lies in what they intend to do next. They are not simply withdrawing from the race. They are converting individual political ambitions into collective political capital.
In practical terms, structures that could have been deployed against one another during primaries are now being redirected towards the general election. Political networks built at polling-unit, ward, local government and community levels are being preserved and integrated into the larger APC campaign architecture.
That is how political organisations become formidable. Elections are rarely won by candidates alone. They are won by networks, relationships, organisation, communication and the ability to mobilise people at the grassroots. The decision of these aspirants therefore gives the APC something potentially more valuable than another endorsement: it gives the party additional political machinery. And at the centre of this emerging arrangement is Governor Uba Sani.
There is an important political lesson here. Consensus does not necessarily mean the elimination of ambition. Properly managed, it can mean the reorganisation of ambition.
Every politician who enters a contest wants to win. But political maturity is demonstrated when individuals who do not emerge are able to recognise the larger interest, negotiate their place within the political structure and continue contributing to the party rather than destroying it from within. This is where Uba Sani’s political sophistication appears particularly important.
Rather than allowing the aspirants’ ambitions to become competing centres of influence, the governor has created a framework through which those ambitions can be accommodated within a broader party project. The result is a political environment in which stepping aside does not necessarily amount to political extinction.
The aspirants can still mobilise. They can still influence their communities. They can still speak to their supporters. They can still participate meaningfully in the political process. The difference is that they are now doing so under one umbrella. That is the essence of political consolidation.
It also explains why the slogan increasingly appears to be “Uba Sani all the way.” The governor’s growing acceptance within the party is not simply about occupying Government House. It is increasingly about his ability to bring different political interests around a common direction.
The 2027 contest will ultimately be decided by voters, not party meetings. But before candidates reach the electorate, political parties must first organise themselves. A fragmented party enters an election carrying internal wounds. A coordinated party enters with its structures intact.
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The APC in Kaduna appears determined to choose the latter. The aspirants have also linked their support for President Tinubu to the projects and interventions of the Federal Government. They cited the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road and the Sokoto-Badagry corridor, alongside interventions in education, as reasons for backing the President’s re-election.
That is significant because Kaduna’s political fortunes cannot be separated from its strategic position within the North and its connection to the Federal Government.
Infrastructure is politics when it changes the daily lives of citizens. Roads that reduce travel time, improve commerce and connect communities are not abstract government statistics. They affect farmers, traders, students, transporters and businesses. Likewise, investments in education can shape the prospects of an entire generation.
At the state level, the forum highlighted Governor Sani’s interventions in roads, healthcare, education and agriculture. The reported spread of road projects across the 23 local government areas is particularly important in a state as geographically and politically diverse as Kaduna. Likewise, the renovation and upgrading of primary healthcare facilities, construction of classrooms and support for farmers speak directly to issues that affect ordinary citizens. This is where performance becomes political currency.
A governor seeking a second term does not only need party machinery. He needs a record that can be taken to the people. The emerging APC strategy appears to be built around both.
The structures will mobilise. The candidates will campaign. The government will point to projects. And the party will attempt to translate these into a persuasive argument for continuity.
There is also a broader dimension to the development. The willingness of former aspirants to surrender personal ambitions for the party’s collective objective demonstrates that political competition does not have to end in permanent bitterness.
In many political environments, defeated aspirants become internal saboteurs. They withhold their structures, encourage rebellion or quietly work against the candidate who defeated them.
Kaduna’s consensus arrangement is attempting something different: turning competitors into collaborators.
Whether that strategy ultimately delivers electoral victory will depend on execution, public sentiment and the quality of mobilisation between now and 2027. But politically, it is already producing an important effect: the APC is reducing the number of internal battles it will have to fight before confronting its external opponents. That is no small achievement.
Governor Uba Sani therefore appears to be building something larger than a campaign organisation. He is building a political coalition in which ambition is being subordinated to continuity, structures are being consolidated and former competitors are being brought into a common enterprise.
In Kaduna, the message from the former aspirants is therefore larger than an endorsement. It is a declaration that their political structures, their networks and their grassroots influence will no longer be deployed in separate directions.
They have chosen consolidation over fragmentation, continuity over disruption and collective victory over individual ambition. And at the heart of that calculation stands Governor Uba Sani. For the Kaduna APC, the politics of 2027 may already be taking shape. It is Uba Sani all the way.
• Garba writes from Zaria, Kaduna State
