Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, the immediate past Minister of Foreign Affairs, has formally joined the race for the Bauchi State governorship after obtaining the All Progressives Congress (APC) expression of interest and nomination forms on Wednesday.

Tuggar, who spoke to journalists after picking the N50 million forms, listed insecurity and economic revival through agriculture as priority areas for his proposed administration ad.

“Addressing the security challenges and optimizing the agricultural resources of the state will be key in improving the livelihoods in the state of Bauchi,” he said.

“The top priorities will be the challenge of insecurity and the need to properly utilise our farmland. “We have huge land resources in Bauchi, and we must structure them in a way that subsistence farmers and pastoralists can benefit and also lift people out of poverty.”

Fair access to land must be established to prevent economic imbalances. Tuggar cautioned against a system where a few possess resources at the expense of the majority.

The aspirant said on the mode of the party’s primary election that he would go along with either direct primaries or consensus arrangement provided the process is transparent and credible.

“I am fine with whatever option that the party chooses as long as it is fair. The key is to produce candidates who have integrity and real support among the people,” he said.

Tuggar had resigned his ministerial post on March 30, 2026 in compliance with a directive from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that political appointees seeking elective offices should resign their posts.

After his departure, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu was appointed to head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a ministry she once served as Minister of State.

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A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar has officially joined the 2027 governorship race in Bauchi State after buying the All Progressives Congress (APC) nomination form for ₦50 million.

A video posted on Wednesday by a Senior Special Assistant on New Media to the APC National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, Imran Mohammed, showed Tuggar signing the required documents and accepting the nomination form from party officials.

Tuggar had previously announced his intention to run, saying his ambition was one to unite rather than divide the party.

“This is not just my ambition, it is a collective mission to move Bauchi State forward,” he said during a recent visit to the APC secretariat in Bauchi.

He said his entry into the race would strengthen internal democracy and healthy competition within the party.

The former minister who resigned from his post in March 2026 in line with a directive by President Bola Tinubu asking political appointees seeking elective office to resign, reaffirmed his commitment to party discipline.

Tuggar vowed to back whoever wins the APC ticket, saying he will not go to court against other aspirants.

He said unity and cohesion in the party was still key to winning in the 2027 polls.

Tuggar spoke on his vision for the state, saying his governorship ambition was driven by the need to address the pressing socio-economic challenges in Bauchi.

He identified poverty, unemployment, insecurity, and gaps in education and healthcare as major issues needing urgent attention.

The former minister promised to give priority to agriculture, support small and medium-scale enterprises and harness the state’s solid minerals potential.

He also promised to boost security, guarantee that workers’ salaries are paid on time and broaden access to quality education and health care services.

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Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s minister of foreign affairs, has resigned, opening the door for an anticipated bid in the 2027 governorship election in Bauchi State.

Tuggar reportedly sent in his resignation letter on Monday at noon, in accordance with a presidential order mandating that political appointees running for elective office quit before the deadline of March 31, 2026.

According to people familiar with the situation, the action is calculated and would put the former minister in a position to run on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform.

Shortly after noon, Tuggar delivered his resignation letter to the president. In 2027, he will run for governor of Bauchi, according to a source.

In Bauchi State, where rivalry for the governorship seat is already heating up among major aspirants, his planned participation is likely to rebalance political forces.

Tuggar’s departure coincides with a larger wave of anticipated resignations from President Tinubu’s cabinet, which was mandated earlier in March.

All political appointees with aspirations to run for office are have to leave by March 31, 2026, at the latest, according to an order issued by George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Section 88(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026 and the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) schedule for party primaries prior to the 2027 general elections are in line with the direction.

Ministers, ministers of state, special advisers, senior special assistants, special assistants, personal assistants, directors general, and chief executives of federal agencies and parastatals are only a few examples of the wide range of officials covered by it.

The APC in Bauchi, where several candidates are already vying for the party ticket, is anticipated to become more competitive as a result of Tuggar’s bid for governor.

According to a state source, his background as a career diplomat and current minister might provide a strategic advantage, especially in terms of political network and national visibility.

More resignations are expected when appointees meet the conditions to take part in the election cycle, with less than a day remaining before the presidential deadline.

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Yusuf Tuggar, the Minister of international Affairs, advised international investors Tuesday not to see Nigeria’s future through the lens of individual security occurrences. According to Tuggar, these cases did not accurately represent the long-term investment fundamentals of Africa’s greatest economy.

In an interview with CNN while attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Tuggar acknowledged Nigeria’s security issues. However, he emphasized that the administration was actively tackling them and that they were localized.

According to him, the propensity to generalize about instability throughout the nation has frequently resulted in inflated risk perceptions that have masked potential in important industries. He called on the world to reconsider its perception of Nigeria.

Nigerians, according to the minister, are among the most diverse people on the continent. He emphasized the nation’s strengthening macroeconomic reforms and the Bola Tinubu administration’s continuous efforts to improve governance.

According to Tuggar, investors should have a more nuanced perspective on Nigeria, evaluating the nation on its own characteristics rather than making generalizations, even though no nation is immune to security problems.

“I think it would be nice to see (Nigeria) as a very diverse country that actually has not fared bad compared to countries that are more homogenous,” he told CNN. that notwithstanding some fringe or even warring areas in border areas that are now cascading downward, we have been coexisting peacefully.

However, it is crucial to identify it for what it is in order to identify the appropriate solutions. We offer a number of other programs in addition to our forest guardians. In actuality, the battle against Boko Haram had gone really well.

The minister countered that many of the charges are exaggerated and described the Nigerian and African situation as being incorrectly framed.

“Some of the discussions that are happening here also have to do with Africa’s risk bias, where the issue of risk, particularly geopolitical risk, is overhyped when it comes to Africa, which doesn’t apply in other parts of the world,” he stated.

Therefore, it is crucial that we examine the advancements made by the Tinubu administration in macroeconomic reforms, including the reduction of corporate income tax, the reform of foreign exchange, and tax reforms that facilitate investor entry into Nigeria.

“We have $43 billion in foreign reserves, so we can come to Davos and use our Nigerian cards, which are limitless credit cards.” The yield on our national bonds and Treasury bills is between 8 and 10%. So let’s examine Nigeria in its whole. Let’s not let a few isolated episodes characterize the entire nation.

“And it’s also important to note that sometimes we dwell on some of these incidents, sorry, when we don’t frame the narrative correctly, we actually trigger some of these incidents, because that’s when some of the bandits and terrorists try to go for innocent civilians and use them as human shields because they know they’re going to be targeted,” he continued.

Tuggar acknowledged the impact of the recent coup in the Niger Republic and its detrimental impact on security in the Sahel, stressing that Nigeria is still willing to collaborate with other countries in order to provide equipment and training to address the country’s security issues.

“We were trying to sort out the thousands that had surrendered,” he said. Prior to the coup in Niger, some were innocent victims stuck in combat zones. Additionally, Niger withdrew from the global joint task force that was functioning so effectively because it permits the right of pursuit.

It enables the pursuit of terrorists into Niger by Nigerian military and vice versa. We are pleading with prospective investors to view us in the same light as other nations.

“A country of 923,000 square kilometers does not have to be written off because of an incident.”

The minister declined to provide a definitive answer when asked if the latest US-Nigeria airstrikes had struck the targets in Sokoto. He claimed that those in command of the armed forces and security were best suited to respond to such queries.

“It’s sufficient to say that certain targets were hit, and sometimes you don’t get the right target, as is the case with some of these strikes,” Tuggar stated.

However, it emphasizes how eager Nigeria, the US, and other nations are to comprehend the situation in the area better and cooperate to put an end to it.

The West African region, as well as the Sahel and Lake Shad regions in particular, are among the fastest expanding places in the globe due to the global nature of the conflict. In the next twenty-four years, Nigeria will have 400 million people. The most populous continent will be Africa.

In order to prevent these wars from spreading to other continents and to prevent terrorism, extremism, and other criminal activity from thriving in the Sahel, it is crucial that we put an end to them as soon as possible. We’re also making a lot of progress locally.

Tuggar said, “Nigeria is taking on a lot of responsibility. If you look at the work we’ve done in just one month—intervening in the Republic of Benin, where there was a coup attempt, sheltering an opposition leader following an election, and dealing with a coup in Guinea-Bissau—you’ll see that we have a lot of duties, and we need your help.

“We require support in the form of equipment, training, and—above all—understanding and appropriate framing of what is occurring in our region and the nation.”

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The Bauchi State Government has dismissed Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar’s criticism of Governor Bala Mohammed, describing it as a desperate attempt to stay politically relevant.

This follows Tuggar recent remarks against Governor Bala Mohammed’s stance on the Federal Government’s tax reform policy.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr. Aminu Gamawa, dismissed Tuggar’s comments as opportunistic and desperate, accusing the minister of being out of touch with the realities of governance.

“Tuggar’s attack on Bala Mohammed is nothing more than an attempt to remain politically relevant by targeting the Governor, whose agricultural policies have transformed Bauchi State into a hub of economic activity,” Gamawa stated.

The statement highlighted the governor’s achievements in agriculture, citing initiatives such as the Kaura Economic Empowerment Programme, which has created thousands of jobs in fish farming, animal husbandry, and cash crop production.

“Tuggar, a man from Bauchi State, remains blissfully ignorant of these realities. If he had spent more time in his home state instead of gallivanting across foreign capitals, he would have seen firsthand the transformation Bala Mohammed has brought to Bauchi,” the statement added.

The Bauchi government also took a swipe at Tuggar’s tenure as Foreign Affairs Minister, alleging that his poor leadership had diminished Nigeria’s diplomatic influence.

“Under Tuggar’s mismanagement, ECOWAS, a once-united and robust sub-regional body, is now in disarray. His poor advice to President Tinubu on the crises in the Sahel has led to the withdrawal of key member states like Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger,” the statement read.

The government further accused Tuggar of aligning Nigeria with French neocolonial interests at the expense of its traditional Afrocentric foreign policy, calling it “a betrayal of Nigeria’s diplomatic heritage.”

The statement suggested that Tuggar’s attacks on Governor Mohammed were politically motivated, hinting at his alleged ambitions to contest for Bauchi’s governorship in 2027.

“Tuggar’s attacks on Bala Mohammed are clearly motivated by his ambition to contest the Bauchi governorship in 2027. However, his strategy of maligning the Governor will backfire. The people of Bauchi have witnessed Bala Mohammed’s transformative leadership and will not be swayed by the baseless rhetoric of an absentee politician,” the statement declared.

Concluding, Gamawa urged Tuggar to focus on his ministerial responsibilities rather than engaging in political distractions.

Stop seeking political relevance, focus on your job – Bauchi govt blasts Tuggar

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