Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed has called off plans to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) after talks between his camp and the ruling party collapsed over a proposed power-sharing arrangement.
The development follows a series of high-level meetings in which APC leaders, including National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda and Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf, sought to persuade Mohammed to join the party and leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The negotiations reportedly included discussions with Vice President Kashim Shettima.
According to Sama’ila Burga, Chairman of the PDP in Bauchi State, the APC leadership rejected a 60–40 formula that would have allocated the majority of party positions to Mohammed’s structure—from ward level up to the state executive. Burga said such arrangements have been standard in previous defections by governors to the APC in other states.
“We have called for this press conference at the instance of His Excellency, the Governor, who is leading the discussions,” Burga told reporters on Saturday. “After careful consideration, it became clear that the conditions collectively advanced for such a political realignment were not accepted by the APC leadership. In light of this, we want to announce that the discussions have not yielded a conclusive outcome and are hereby formally discontinued.”
The governor had earlier been approached by the African Democratic Congress (ADC), meeting with party officials in Bauchi the previous week. However, that overture appears to have been overtaken by the APC’s intervention.
Mohammed’s decision to remain with the PDP averts a potential realignment that could have altered the political balance in the North-East ahead of future electoral contests. The episode also underscores the importance of negotiated settlements in Nigeria’s fluid party politics, where defections often hinge on control over party machinery and access to state resources.
