Leadership crisis rocking the Taraba State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken a new turn as the Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo has scheduled April 29, 2026, to begin hearing a suit challenging the emergence of Alhaji Abubakar Bawa as the party’s state chairman.
The suit, market FHC/JAL/CS/5/2026, was filed by one of the chairmanship aspirants, Abdulhadi Haruna Lau, who alleged that he was unfairly excluded from the process that produced a consensus candidate during the party’s recently concluded state congress.
Lau told the court that he had fulfilled all requirements to contest the position, including payment for nomination forms at the party’s national secretariat, but was allegedly sidelined during the process that led to Bawa’s emergence.
According to him, contrary to claims circulating within the party, he never stepped down for any aspirant and insisted that the entire process lacked transparency and fairness.
“The congress was conducted without my knowledge because I did not see the election committee and the appeal committee. If they were on the ground, they ought to have met with all the contestants before the congress, but that did not happen,” he said.
He further alleged that officials assigned to conduct the congress were prevented from engaging with aspirants before the exercise, claiming that the committees were hijacked and deliberately kept away from some contestants, including himself.
Lau, who presented a receipt for his purchased chairmanship nomination form while addressing journalists, expressed disappointment over what he described as the party leadership’s failure to explain why he and his supporters were excluded from the caucus meeting that produced the consensus candidate.
“I did not step down for anybody. I paid for form at the national secretariat, I was issued a receipt, no form was given to me to feel, i prepared to contest, but the process was not transparent,” he stated.
The aspirant added that he had formally petitioned the process and subsequently approached the court for redress, noting that the alleged compromise left him with no option but to challenge the outcome through legal means.
The case, FHC/JAL/CS/5/2026, between Abdulhadi Haruna and two others, was mentioned on Friday before the presiding judge, Justice Mashkur Salisu, who adjourned the matter to April 29, 2026, for hearing.
The development signals a deepening internal dispute within the Taraba APC, as party stakeholders await the court’s decision on the contentious chairmanship position.