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.
Malami, who declared his intention to run for governor of Kebbi last month, withdrew from the race for fear of not being selected.
Malami was said to have changed his plans and dropped out of the governorship race because he was afraid he would not get the ticket under the current circumstances.
“He (Malami) actually pulled out of the race because he knows he can’t win without being the Attorney General,” a source had confirmed at that time.
A document however, conveyed Malami’s clearance to run, causing controversy in the political sphere because the AGF had already withdrawn his governorship ambition in order to keep his ministerial appointment.
President Muhammadu Buhari issued an order last week requiring all political appointees to resign before running in the upcoming general elections.
It is unclear whether Malami resigned to pursue his political ambitions in accordance with Buhari’s directive, or if he was awaiting the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the contentious Section 84 (12) of the Electoral Act 2022.
A number of political appointees have sparked public outrage after violating political norms by running for office without resigning.
In addition, there has been a cold political war between Kebbi State’s incumbent governor, Atiku Bagudu, and Kebbi’s political arrowhead, Senator Adamu Aliero, over who will succeed the former.
While Bagudu, who chairs the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), supports Malami as his successor, Aliero, the state’s two-term governor, prefers Senate Leader Yahaya Abdullahi for the APC governorship ticket.
