Former Adamawa Governor Jibrilla Bindow has rejoined the APC ahead of 2027 after leaving the party in 2023 and later joining the PDP and ADC.
Former Adamawa State Governor Jibrilla Bindow has returned to the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general elections, formally re-registering as a party member at his ward in Mubi, the state’s commercial hub, on Sunday.
The registration was witnessed by the Mubi ward APC Chairman, Alhaji Ahmadu Guruja, and drew thousands of Bindow’s supporters, friends, family members and political associates who gathered to welcome him back.
A Winding Political Journey
Bindow’s return caps a roughly three-and-a-half-year political journey since he first left the APC. He had governed Adamawa from 2015 to 2019 on the party’s platform before losing the APC’s 2022 governorship primary to Aishatu Binani, coming third behind Binani and former EFCC chairman Nuhu Ribadu.
He formally resigned from the APC in a letter dated January 20, 2023, citing an unresolved party crisis, and moved to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) around the same time.
By July 2025, Bindow had shifted again, registering with the African Democratic Congress (ADC). His ADC involvement deepened in May 2026, when he formally accepted the party’s governorship nomination form for the 2027 race, in a move ADC supporters framed as a boost for the party’s prospects in the North-East. He withdrew from that governorship race in May 2026, citing personal reasons after what he described as deep reflection, and formally resigned his ADC membership in a letter dated July 15, 2026, saying “evolving political realities” required him to take a new political path.
Speculation about a return to the APC had been building for months. Vice President Kashim Shettima hosted Bindow in Abuja in June, a meeting APC supporters at the time interpreted as a sign of possible realignment, and the following week Bindow’s former deputy governor, Martins Babale, publicly appealed to him to rejoin the party, an appeal Bindow acknowledged without committing to at the time.
Bindow’s Explanation
Speaking after Sunday’s registration, Bindow said his decision followed extensive consultations with political associates and confidants, and that he had always respected party discipline and avoided anti-party activities. He said he consulted Vice President Shettima, whom he described as “his brother and close political associate,” and recalled a recent meeting with President Bola Tinubu as “pleasant and memorable.”
“I am back to the APC not to divide, but to contribute; not to fight, but to build; and above all, to work with the party and its candidates toward victory,” Bindow said.
He pledged to support APC candidates in Adamawa and work for the party’s success in 2027, and spoke positively of his relationship with sitting PDP Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, describing it as cordial. He also acknowledged his longstanding relationship with the APC’s Adamawa governorship candidate, Ahmed Tijjani Galadima, and other party leaders in the state.
Context
Bindow’s return adds to a wave of defections and political realignments across Nigeria ahead of the 2027 general elections, as prominent politicians reposition themselves between the APC, PDP, ADC and other parties. His re-entry strengthens the APC’s structure in Adamawa, a state the party has not held since Bindow lost the governorship in 2019.
