Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The Nigeria Democratic Congress in Plateau State has been plunged into a fresh and potentially damaging internal crisis over competing claims to its governorship ticket ahead of the 2027 election, with the party's national leadership and its state chapter presenting conflicting accounts of a substitution primary held last week.
At the centre of the dispute are two names: Da Jonathan Sunday Akuns, declared the winner by the party's National Working Committee, and Alfred Dapal Damiyal, whose name was allegedly forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission by the state chairman, Solomon Ndam Yakubu, following a separate exercise. The controversy has created uncertainty over the NDC's governorship ticket in Plateau State and raised questions about whether the party can field a candidate at all in the polls.
The National Auditor of the NDC, Oluwole Adedapo, who was delegated by the NWC to conduct the substitution primary, said Akuns emerged unopposed. He explained that the exercise was intended to secure stakeholder affirmation of Akuns' candidacy because no other aspirant had purchased the expression of interest and nomination forms or been successfully screened. According to Adedapo, party records showed that Akuns was the only aspirant who met the requirements.
Adedapo's account of his time in Jos paints a picture of a mission that was obstructed from the outset. He said that on arrival, he paid a courtesy visit to the state executive committee at the party secretariat and later moved a stakeholders' meeting to a larger venue because of space constraints. On the eve of the primary, he alleged, some persons who identified themselves as operatives of the Department of State Services arrived at the venue at about 10:30 p.m. and asked him to accompany them to their office. Party members present declined the request, explaining that he had been sent from Abuja and that the gathering was a legitimate political meeting.
The following day, the situation escalated. Adedapo alleged that the state chairman, Solomon Ndam Yakubu, opposed the exercise and proceeded with a separate meeting involving chairmen of seven local government areas. He maintained that the responsibility for conducting governorship primaries rested with the national leadership of the party. "He dragged chairmen of seven LGAs to go and hold an illegal parallel exercise," Adedapo said.
A party stakeholder, Abdullahi Iliya, alleged that after holding the parallel substitution primary, Ndam forwarded the name of Alfred Dapal Damiyal to INEC. Iliya claimed that Damiyal had previously contested the Peoples Democratic Party governorship primary in Plateau State and did not participate in the NDC's May 29 primary. The allegation could not be independently verified.
Ndam denied any wrongdoing, saying he was not aware of any dispute over the NDC governorship ticket. He maintained that INEC monitored the exercise and compiled its report. "I am not aware of any contention following the emergence of the winner of Plateau State governorship ticket of NDC," he said.
The NDC National Secretary, Ikenna Morgan Enekweizu, a lawyer, said the party had forwarded Akuns' name to INEC as its nominee. He stressed that it would be unusual for INEC to accept a communication concerning the party's governorship candidate that was not endorsed by the appropriate national officers. "I heard that the Plateau State chairman sent a name to INEC, but I am just hearing the suggestion that my signature and that of the National Chairman could have been cloned," Enekweizu said. "We have forwarded the name of Da Jonathan Sunday Akuns to INEC and anything outside that is an aberration." He added that the party would seek clarification and pursue appropriate legal remedies if INEC acted on any name different from the one submitted by the national leadership.
The root of the crisis extends back to the party's original governorship primary on May 29, 2026, when Akuns was nominated unopposed. According to party sources, Ndam and the National Vice Chairman for the North Central zone, Barnabas Ejisi, subsequently sought to upturn his emergence. The NWC then resolved to conduct a substitution primary to regularise Akuns' candidacy and formalise the replacement of Ndam, whose name was earlier uploaded by INEC as a placeholder. The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Osa Director, said primaries conducted by state chapters were invalid and illegal, and that the final decision on the Plateau governorship candidate would be taken by the NWC after receiving reports from the various states where substitution polls held. Feelers from the party headquarters hinted that the state working committee could be dissolved over what was described as recalcitrant behaviour toward the national leadership.
The crisis in Plateau is unfolding as the NDC seeks to establish itself as a major opposition platform ahead of the 2027 general elections, scheduled for January 16. The party has positioned Peter Obi as its presidential candidate, with Rabiu Kwankwaso as his running mate, and has been working to build structures across the states. A fractured governorship ticket in Plateau would undermine those efforts and could hand an advantage to the ruling All Progressives Congress and other parties in the state.
The dispute also raises broader questions about internal democracy within Nigeria's political parties, where parallel primaries and conflicting candidate submissions have become recurring features of the pre-election season. The NDC's national leadership has insisted that only it can conduct valid primaries, but the state chapter's defiance suggests a deeper contest over control of the party's machinery in Plateau. With the substitution primary now contested by two factions and two names potentially before INEC, the coming days will determine whether the NDC can resolve its internal crisis or whether the Plateau governorship ticket becomes the subject of litigation that could further complicate the party's 2027 preparations.
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