Alhaji Ibrahim Bilal, chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa state has dismissed speculation that he is working towards installing Ahmed Hailu as the party’s governorship candidate in 2023.
Ahmed Halilu popularly known as Modi is a younger brother to Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ibrahim Bilal, who was returned as chair in October after a long-drawn battle, said he is committed to transparently fair party primaries into all elective offices and would not seek undue favour for anyone.
Bilal spoke to newsmen against widespread speculation in Adamawa State that he had a working relationship with Aisha Buhari, a daughter of Adamawa State.
Specifically, he denied entering any pact with Aisha Buhari to favour the emergence of her younger brother as APC gubernatorial candidate in 2023.
He said the allegation was baseless as Aisha Buhari herself would not seek unmerited favour for her brother.
“Aisha Buhari is our mother in the state. She’s also a staunch APC supporter, so also is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha and the Minister of FCT, Mohammed Bello,” Bilal said, adding that those leaders are neutral in the affairs of the party in the state.
Modi had first aimed for the APC governorship ticket in 2019 but lost the party primary to former Governor Jibrilla Bindow.
Bindow lost the governorship election to Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Bilal said the party’s defeat in 2019 resulted from disunity and promised transparent, free and fair primaries in choosing governorship candidate of the party to solidify the unity the party currently enjoys.
“The task before me is a herculean one: to ensure we reclaim power we lost to the PDP in 2019. We lost polls because we went with a divided house. My pledge as chairman now is to ensure the unity of our party,” he asserted.
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