In Nigeria’s Taraba State, 19 candidates are running in the 2027 gubernatorial election
In Nigeria’s Taraba State, the INEC electoral commission has released information on 19 candidates in the 2027 gubernatorial election. The leading contenders include incumbent Governor Agbu Kefas of the All Progressives Congress (APC), former Senator Emmanuel Bwacha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and former Senator Abubakar Tutare of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Premium Times Nigeria reports.
Party switches and the results of the 2023 election
Kefas won the 2023 election as a PDP candidate and later defected to the APC. Bwacha, who was the APC candidate in that election, now represents the PDP.
According to INEC, Kefas received 302,614 votes in 2023. Muhammad Yahaya, the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), received 202,277 votes, while Bwacha received 142,502. Yahaya is now running for the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Other contenders include former federal lawmaker Danjuma Shiddi, known as Danji SS, of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Jerome Nyameh of the Accord Party, and Mohammed Yahaya of the NDC.
Debt, roads and campaign promises
Bwacha has made his assessment of the Kefas administration’s performance one of the central points of his campaign. He criticized the state authorities over the condition of infrastructure, economic management and transparency, and also called on the governor to name a project worth at least 10 billion naira implemented by his administration.
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The governor’s supporters reject opposition claims that the state’s debt exceeds 1.2 trillion naira. The latest published Debt Management Office data estimate Taraba’s domestic debt at approximately 80.92 billion naira as of March 31, 2026. At the same time, these data concern only domestic debt and do not cover all possible financial liabilities of the state.
The civic group Concerned Taraba Citizens stated that Kefas had allegedly failed to fulfill 42 campaign promises made in 2023. According to its leader, Yakubu Haruna, these concern roads, education, healthcare, water and electricity supply, employment, and payments to workers. The governor’s administration, for its part, cites a road construction program in the state and funding for road and transport infrastructure in the 2026 budget.
Competition for votes
The candidates will have to build support in Taraba’s three senatorial districts and 16 local government areas. Kefas has the advantage of being the incumbent governor and having access to APC party structures, while opposition candidates will seek to convince voters of the need for a change of government. The publication notes that representatives of smaller parties may affect the distribution of votes even if they do not win the election.
