Ex-Adamawa speaker dumps APC for APM with supporters, citing flawed primaries and a lack of internal democracy
The former Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly and member for Yola South State Constituency, Alhaji Kabiru Mijinyawa, left the All Progressives Congress for the Action People’s Movement on Monday, 14 September 2026, taking thousands of supporters with him.
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Alhaji Mijinyawa set out his reasons in a letter dated 13 September 2026 to the state chairman of the APC.
He said the party had failed to treat members with fairness or openness. “The recent APC primary elections in Adamawa State were a demonstration that the party lacks internal democracy; people were picked as candidates without due process,” he wrote.
The move came two days after hundreds of APC figures, led by Alhaji Tahir Shehu, also crossed to the APM. Alhaji Shehu had, at a stakeholders’ meeting at Government House last Saturday, urged the leadership to mend fences before the general election.
He later told Punch that the absence of internal democracy drove him out. Party unity, he argued, required aggrieved members to be treated as part of the family rather than as an afterthought.
The exits have sharpened the contest in Adamawa. Alhaji Abdulraman Haske now holds the APM governorship ticket.
Supporters say Alhaji Haske won the APC governorship primary and was then set aside for Alhaji Ahmad Galadima. Similar rows are cited in the senatorial races. In Adamawa Central, Abdulraman Abbati, who had been unopposed, was replaced with Alhaji Salihu Mustapha, a governorship aspirant.
In Adamawa South, Mr Peter Fwa, also unopposed, was replaced with Mr Felix Tangwami, another governorship aspirant. Mr Fwa and a large body of supporters have since joined the Labour Party.
The APC has dismissed the crossings as restless politics rather than a collapse of its base. The publicity secretary of the Adamawa chapter of the APC, Mr Dogo Victor, called the defections political tourism and questioned Alhaji Shehu’s weight in the party. “Tahir Shehu was the Peoples Democratic Party PDP chairman for two terms; he could not win his local government, Ganyi, during the last by-election in Ganyi state constituency, lost his polling unit directly opposite his private house. So what is his political value in APC?” Mr Dogo asked.
Mr Dogo said Governor Ahmadu Fintiri’s record would still help the APC in 2027 and that the party remained strong at the grassroots.
When reminded that former Governor Jibrilla Bindow lost to Governor Fintiri while in office, the call ended.
The Ex-Adamawa speaker dumps APC story is therefore larger than one man’s letter.
It sits in a week of contested tickets, rival claims about who speaks for the grassroots, and a scramble among the APM, the Labour Party and the APC ahead of 2027.
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Whether the walkouts shrink the ruling party or merely recycle familiar faces will be tested at the polls, not in the wording of resignation notes.
