The cold war between President Bola Tinubu and governors elected on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) has worsened, following the aloof posture of some northern chief executives towards the President’s re-election bid.

This was as indications emerged that the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) bypassed governors and directed its candidates to submit the names of their proposed party agents directly to the national secretariat to prevent possible sabotage during the 2027 general elections.

On his return from his recent overseas vacation, the President expressed dismay that state governors were not doing enough to enlighten their people on the achievements of his administration.

Barely two months ago, the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, noted how not more than five state governors from the northern region were demonstrating tacit support for the President’s re-election.

However, the Vice President’s media office, while clarifying the statement, noted that Shettima was referring to the governors’ posture in the lead-up to the 2022 APC presidential primary.

But, in a conversation with the governor of one of the North-West states yesterday, The Guardian was told that the Vice President’s position reflected the present situation within the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), the umbrella caucus of the APC governors.

The governor, who is also seeking a second term, said that despite attempts to pretend that all was well between President Tinubu and the governors, the APC leadership’s inability to resolve lingering misunderstandings within the party’s ranks was taking its toll on the party’s preparedness for next year’s poll.

He disclosed that the majority of the APC governors in the North were not bold to canvass support for the President’s second term, adding that a tour of most northern states showed that while some governorship candidates’ billboards in the city centres have the photos of the President and the Vice President, those in the hinterland do not showcase Tinubu.

Regarding the perceived estrangement of Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, who doubles as PGF Chairman and Scribe of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, he refused to elaborate on the relationship between the PGF chairman and the President.

“The much I can tell you is that we have a situation in the PGF, which is also affecting the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF). The President promised to wade into the misunderstanding among the governors, but no concrete action has been taken.

“There are governors who want the PGF chairman to hand over the office and face his assignments on the Campaign Council and the Renewed Hope Ambassadors. But, the chairman maintains that the tradition has always been that handing over should be to a second-term governor after general elections,” he said.

He said that three major considerations underlie the divided loyalty of some of his colleagues in the North, adding that the travails of the immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, despite his fight for the President’s election, are among them.

The governor said Tinubu’s directive to the Finance Ministry to publish disbursements is seen as a direct target at state governors, particularly on the use of local council funds.

He added that the President’s open support for the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and his Rainbow Coalition was the last nail in the coffin of the icy relationship between the PGF and the Presidency.

The move by APC NWC, The Guardian gathered, was designed to ensure that the party safeguards its electoral victory by bypassing state chapters that traditionally handle such submissions.

The directive, which represented a departure from the party’s established protocol, is understood to be part of a strategy to prevent possible sabotage on election day by governors suspected of working against the party’s interests.

Multiple sources within the party hierarchy confirmed that the decision was taken after intelligence suggested that some state governors were allegedly orchestrating a scheme to install loyalists as APC polling agents while simultaneously financing candidates on opposition platforms.

The arrangement, according to sources, is being implemented primarily in states where the NWC suspects governors of sponsoring candidates on other political parties’ platforms against APC candidates in the 2027 elections.

The development followed allegations by a South-West group, the Oodua Progressive Youths League, that some governors whose preferred aspirants lost the party’s National Assembly primaries directed them to seek tickets from opposition parties and contest against APC candidates.

According to a statement signed by the group’s General Secretary, Wale Abdulwaheed, the governors had also allegedly reached agreements with some opposition parties on the selection of polling agents for the elections, with plans to submit the names of their loyalists, who remain APC members, as the ruling party’s officially recognised agents in their respective states.

A member of the National Assembly from Ondo State, who is also an APC candidate for the 2027 elections, confirmed the development but requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

He stated that the APC NWC had bypassed the governor of Ondo and directed candidates to submit their agents’ names directly to the national secretariat, with the agents’ forms already in the candidates’ possession.

Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, however, denied directing any aspirant or candidate to contest against APC candidates on the platform of another political party, those accusing him of anti-party activities as “naysayers, blackmailers, and slanderers.”

He said, “I have zero tolerance for anti-party activities. I have never engaged in anti-party activities in my life.” (The Guardian, but headline rejigged)