PROSPER OKOYE
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared Senator Tijjani Yahaya Kaura winner of its re-run primary for Zamfara North Senatorial District ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The re-run primary, held on Monday, November 2, 2026, was conducted to comply with court judgments that nullified the party’s earlier nomination process for the district over reported irregularities.
Announcing the results on Monday night in Gusau, the APC Zamfara North Senatorial Primary Election Committee said Kaura secured a decisive victory with 16,758 votes. His closest rivals, Sahabi Alhaji Yau, polled 1,465 votes, while Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi scored 1,447 votes, according to the official result sheet.
The committee said a total of 23,257 delegates were on the register for the exercise. Of this number, 19,608 delegates were accredited and participated in the voting process. It added that out of the votes cast, 19,292 were valid votes, while 316 votes were declared invalid.
Announcing the results, committee member Sani Abdullahi said Kaura had fulfilled all requirements for nomination in line with the APC constitution and the party’s guidelines for primary elections. “Senator Tijjani Yahaya Kaura, having scored the highest number of valid votes cast and satisfied the requirements of the party, is hereby declared winner and returned as the APC candidate for Zamfara North Senatorial District,” Abdullahi said.
The result sheet was signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the primary election committee on November 2, formally returning Kaura as the party’s flagbearer for the district in the 2027 polls.
The fresh primary followed a court ruling that annulled the previous exercise. A Federal High Court sitting in Gusau had nullified the earlier Zamfara North primary on grounds of irregularities and non-compliance with electoral guidelines. The All Progressives Congress had appealed the judgment, but the Court of Appeal in Sokoto upheld the lower court’s decision and ordered the party to conduct a fresh primary within a stipulated period. The APC said the re-run held on November 2 was in full compliance with the court order.
Party officials in Gusau described the exercise as peaceful, orderly and transparent, with security agencies and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) present as observers.
Kaura is a former Senator who represented Zamfara North Senatorial District in the National Assembly. He is considered one of the ranking political figures in Zamfara State with strong grassroots support in Kaura Namoda, Shinkafi, Birnin Magaji, and Zurmi Local Government Areas that make up the district. His emergence ends weeks of uncertainty within the APC in Zamfara North following the court judgment.
Reacting to the victory, supporters of Kaura in Gusau and Kaura Namoda described his win as confirmation of his popularity in the zone. The APC in Zamfara State is expected to submit Kaura’s name to INEC as its candidate for Zamfara North ahead of the deadline for submission of candidates for the 2027 National Assembly elections. Zamfara North is one of the key battleground districts in Zamfara, where the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been locked in intense rivalry since 2019.