The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has been cleared by the screening committee of the All Progressives Congress to contest the 2023 Kebbi governorship election.
This is despite Malami’s withdrawal from the governorship race last week Friday.
SaharaReporters had two weeks ago exclusively reported that Malami, who declared interest to contest in the Kebbi governorship race last month, pulled out of the race for fear that he might not get the ticket.
Fearing that he might not get the ticket under the current circumstances, Malami was said to have changed his plan and pulled out of the governorship race.
“He (Malami) actually pulled out of the race because he knows he can’t win without being the Attorney General,” a source had told SaharaReporters at that time.
However, a document seen by Peoples Gazette conveyed Malami’s clearance to run, stirring controversy in the political sphere since the AGF had already withdrawn his governorship ambition, in order to retain his ministerial appointment.
President Muhammadu Buhari had last week issued a directive ordering all political appointees to resign before contesting in the forthcoming general elections.
It is unclear if Malami had turned in his resignation to pursue his political quest in compliance with Buhari’s directive or if he was waiting for the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the contentious section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act 2022.
A series of political appointees have sparked public outrage after they went against political norms to seek elective positions without resigning.
Also, there has been a cold political war between the incumbent governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, and the political arrowhead of Kebbi, Senator Adamu Aliero, over who succeeds the former.
While Bagudu, who chairs the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), is rooting for Malami as his successor, Aliero, a two-term governor of the state, has Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi as his preferred candidate for the APC governorship ticket.