Supporters of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, have begun intensifying calls for political alignment around Isa Ashiru ahead of the 2027 governorship contest, in what appears to be an early attempt to consolidate opposition forces against the ruling APC in the state.
The push followed renewed references to the 2015 APC governorship primary in Kaduna, where Ashiru lost to El-Rufai but remained within the party structure and supported the eventual winner through the general election.
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Political actors backing the new appeal noted that the same loyalty and restraint shown by Ashiru more than a decade ago should now be reciprocated by El-Rufai’s supporters under the platform of the African Democratic Congress.
The position gained public attention after Hajiya Asiya Ahmed El-Rufai reportedly stated that the former governor had no preferred aspirant in the ADC governorship race beyond whoever eventually emerges through the party’s primary process.
Even as the statement stopped short of endorsing any candidate, it has been interpreted in some political circles as an attempt by El-Rufai to avoid increasing factional tensions within the opposition coalition taking shape in Kaduna.
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Backers of the emerging alliance said the bigger political objective should be defeating the APC rather than protecting individual ambitions, especially in a state where opposition blocs are still trying to harmonise interests ahead of the next electoral cycle.
One of the strongest arguments advanced by those canvassing support for Ashiru is that opposition parties in Kaduna risk weakening themselves if internal rivalries overshadow broader electoral calculations.
They maintained that Ashiru’s conduct after the 2015 APC primary demonstrated political discipline rarely seen in Nigeria’s often fractious party system, where defeated aspirants frequently defect, litigate, or undermine party structures after losing nominations.
The renewed conversation also highlights the shifting political relationships around El-Rufai since leaving office. Once one of the APC’s most influential northern figures, the former governor has increasingly become associated with opposition realignments amid widening cracks within the ruling party.
Still, the effort to rally ADC supporters around a single candidate may not be as straightforward as some party loyalists suggest.
Kaduna remains politically divided along regional, religious, and partisan lines, while the ADC itself is still struggling to establish a coherent grassroots structure strong enough to challenge the APC’s entrenched machinery across the state.
There is also uncertainty over whether all factions loyal to El-Rufai would automatically transfer their support to Ashiru if he eventually secures the ADC ticket.
For now, however, the latest appeal signals that early coalition-building has quietly begun in Kaduna, with opposition figures increasingly framing the 2027 election less as a contest of personalities and more as a referendum on whether the APC should retain power in the state after more than a decade in office.
Those behind the campaign insist that unity, not personal preference, may ultimately determine the strength of the opposition when the governorship race formally opens.
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