2023 Bauchi State gubernatorial election

2023 Bauchi State gubernatorial election
← 2019 18 March 2023 2027 →
Registered2,749,268
Turnout38.50%[a]
 
Nominee Bala Mohammed Sadique Abubakar Halliru Dauda Jika
Party PDP APC New Nigeria Peoples Party
Running mate Muhammad Auwal Jatau Shehu Aliyu Musa Dahuwa Mohammed Gadauji
Popular vote 525,280 432,272 60,496
Percentage 50.78% 41.79% 5.85%
LGA results

Abubakar:      40–50%      50–60%

Mohammed:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%
Governor before election

Bala Mohammed
PDP

Elected Governor

Bala Mohammed
PDP

The 2023 Bauchi State gubernatorial election took place on 18 March 2023, to elect the Governor of Bauchi State, concurrent with elections to the Bauchi State House of Assembly as well as twenty-seven other gubernatorial elections and elections to all other state houses of assembly.[1][2] The election—which was postponed from its original 11 March date—was held three weeks after the presidential election and National Assembly elections.[3] Incumbent PDP Governor Bala Mohammed initially declined to run for re-election, instead running for president. However, after losing the PDP presidential primary in May 2022, Mohammed was renominated in a rerun primary. Mohammed was re-elected as governor by a 9% margin over first runner-up and APC nominee — former Chief of the Air Staff Sadique Abubakar.

Party primaries were scheduled for between 4 April and 9 June 2022 with the Peoples Democratic Party nominating former Secretary to the State Government Ibrahim Kashim on 25 May while the All Progressives Congress nominated Abubakar on 26 May.[4][5] However, Kashim withdrew from the nomination on 30 May after Mohammed lost the PDP presidential primary; on 4 June, Mohammed won a rerun primary unopposed.[6][7] On 4 August, Senator Halliru Dauda Jika—who came second in the APC primary—won the primary of the smaller New Nigeria Peoples Party after he defected from the APC two months prior.[8]

On 20 March, collation completed and INEC Returning Officer — Abdulkarim Sabo Mohammed — declared Mohammed as the winner. Official results show Mohammed winning over 525,000 votes and 51% of the vote as runner-up Abubakar received around 432,000 votes and 42% of the vote while Jika came third with 60,000 votes and 6% of the vote.[9][10] However, Abubakar rejected the results and alleged widespread fraud.[11]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Oyekanmi, Rotimi (26 February 2022). "It's Official: 2023 Presidential, National Assembly Elections to Hold Feb 25". INEC News. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  2. ^ Jimoh, Abbas (26 February 2022). "INEC Sets New Dates For 2023 General Elections". Daily Trust. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  3. ^ Suleiman, Qosim. "It's Official: INEC postpones Saturday's governorship, state assembly elections". Premium Times. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  4. ^ "2023: Kashim emerges Bauchi PDP gov candidate". Premium Times. News Agency of Nigeria. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  5. ^ Bakam, Armstrong. "Ex-Chief of Air Staff Saddique emerges Bauchi APC gov candidate". The Punch. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  6. ^ "PDP's governorship candidate in Bauchi State withdraws from race". The Guardian. News Agency of Nigeria. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  7. ^ Bakam, Armstrong. "Bauchi gov wins PDP ticket for second term". The Punch. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference NNPP primary results was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Bauchi Governorship: PDP's Bala Mohammed wins re-election". Premium Times. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  10. ^ Ibrahim, Hassan. "Bala Mohammed Wins Second Term In Bauchi". Daily Trust. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  11. ^ Olufemi, Damilola. "APC's Sadique Abubakar rejects Bauchi gov election results". The Punch. Retrieved 10 August 2023.