The men, women in Tinubu’s campaign council with alleged corruption baggage
By Ishaya Ibrahim
President Bola Tinubu has withdrawn the controversial 223-member All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council list for the 2027 general election, although the reason for the reported withdrawal remains unclear.
However, the APC has denied that the president withdrew the list, creating uncertainty over the status of the campaign council.
The composition of the council had drawn scrutiny over the inclusion of several political figures who have faced investigations, prosecutions, convictions or allegations involving the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Here is a look at some of the members and the cases or allegations associated with them.
1. Abdulaziz Yari
Yari, the Director-General of the campaign council, is a former governor of Zamfara State and currently a senator representing Zamfara West.
His financial affairs have attracted scrutiny, particularly following the acquisition of a controlling interest in Geregu Power.
On December 29, 2025, MA’AM Energy Limited acquired a 95% stake in Amperion Power Distribution Company Limited, Geregu Power’s majority shareholder, in a transaction reported to be worth about $750 million, or approximately ₦1.01 trillion at the current exchange rate.
Corporate records reviewed by Premium Times at the time identified Yari’s son, Abdulaziz Yari, as one of four persons with significant control in MA’AM Energy. Yari subsequently became chairman of Geregu Power.
Before entering partisan politics in 1999, publicly available biographical records show that Yari trained in secretarial studies and has said he worked as a primary-school teacher and with a local government.
His financial dealings have also previously attracted the attention of anti-corruption agencies. In 2021, a Federal High Court ordered the forfeiture of funds linked to Yari and associates after the respondents failed to establish a legitimate source for the funds. The ICPC also obtained an interim forfeiture order over properties linked to him in 2022.
Yari was reportedly arrested and detained by the EFCC in April 2021 over alleged illegal financial dealings and misappropriation of funds.
In May 2022, he was again reportedly arrested in connection with an EFCC investigation into an alleged N84 billion fraud involving the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation.
It was reported that Yari benefited by approximately N22 billion through a company connected with the transactions.
Though these allegations remain unresolved, the arrests and investigations were documented by Nigeria’s principal financial-crimes agencies.
2. Bello Matawalle
Matawalle, Minister of State for Defence and Deputy Director, Security and Intelligence of the campaign council, is a former governor of Zamfara State.
In 2023, shortly after leaving office, his successor, Dauda Lawal, alleged that more than 40 vehicles, including bulletproof SUVs, had been recovered from properties associated with the former governor.
The EFCC has also investigated alleged financial misconduct during Matawalle’s tenure. In 2024, the commission said its investigation into alleged diversion of about ₦70 billion involving the former governor remained active.
Matawalle has denied wrongdoing and has accused his political opponents of persecution.
3. Abdullahi Ganduje
Ganduje, the Director of Stakeholders Mobilisation for the campaign council, is a former governor of Kano State.
The Kano State Government filed an eight-count corruption case against him, alleging, among other things, that he received kickbacks from contractors during his tenure as governor.
Ganduje has denied the allegations and described the case as politically motivated.
The allegations also revived the controversy surrounding a 2018 video published by Daily Nigerian, which appeared to show Ganduje receiving and counting dollar notes allegedly offered as kickbacks by a contractor. Ganduje denied that the money in the video was a bribe.
4. Godswill Akpabio
Akpabio, the Senate President and Deputy Director-General (South) of the campaign council, is a former governor of Akwa Ibom State and former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.
He has faced allegations concerning the management of public funds during his time as governor and during his tenure as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, including allegations relating to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
He reported faced serious corruption allegations and EFCC investigation concerning the alleged diversion of more than N100 billion during his tenure as governor.
It should, however, be pointed out that no criminal charge resulted from that investigation. As Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, he was also accused of financial misdemeanours and inappropriate sexual advances by a female NDDC official.
The EFCC has investigated allegations involving the NDDC. Akpabio has denied wrongdoing and has not been convicted of a financial crime in connection with those allegations.
5. Rochas Okorocha
Okorocha, listed under Contact and Mobilisation and also an adviser to Tinubu on the campaign, is a former governor of Imo State.
The EFCC charged him and others in a 17-count case involving alleged diversion and conversion of about ₦2.9 billion in public funds. Okorocha pleaded not guilty to the charges.
6. Jolly Nyame
Nyame, a former governor of Taraba State, is listed under Contact and Mobilisation.
He was convicted over the diversion of about N1.6 billion in state funds and sentenced to 12 years in prison. The Supreme Court affirmed his conviction.
Nyame was among former governors granted a presidential pardon in 2022.
7. Joshua Dariye
Dariye, a former governor of Plateau State, is also listed under Contact and Mobilisation. He was convicted over the diversion of approximately N1.16 billion in state funds and sentenced to prison. Dariye was subsequently granted a presidential pardon in 2022.
8. Orji Uzor Kalu
Kalu, a senator and former governor of Abia State, is listed under Contact and Mobilisation. He was convicted in 2019 over allegations involving the diversion of about N7.65 billion in Abia State funds. However, the Supreme Court subsequently nullified the conviction on procedural grounds and ordered a retrial.
9. Ibrahim Shema
Governor Ibrahim Shema had an N11 billion ALGON case brought against him by the Katsina State Government. Though his jurisdictional challenge of the case reached the Supreme Court, which allowed the prosecution to proceed with it, Katsina State Government, nevertheless, withdrew it on February 14, 2023.
Separately, the EFCC prosecuted Shema over alleged laundering/misappropriation of approximately N5.7 billion in SURE-P funds. He was arraigned and remanded in EFCC custody in 2018; that matter also appears to have gone dormant, with no conviction or acquittal established.
10. Betta Edu
Edu, the Director of Women Mobilisation for the campaign council, is a former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. She was suspended by President Tinubu in January 2024 after a memo emerged showing that she had authorised the payment of N585.19 million intended for vulnerable groups into a private bank account belonging to an official identified as the project accountant. The Accountant-General of the Federation subsequently said the payment was not executed.
President Tinubu directed the EFCC to investigate the matter, and Edu was questioned by the commission.
Shedding more light on the issue in an article, “Nigeria’s Epstein File: The APC’s 2027 Presidential Campaign Council under review,” Dr. Umar Ardo, a prominent opposition leader and public intellectual, said “the issue is not simply who is on the list, but what the list says about the values, judgment and standards of the President and the party that assembled it.”
“Being accused does not mean being guilty; a petition does not establish wrongdoing; investigation does not prove guilt; arrest is not conviction; a charge is an allegation; and prosecution does not establish guilt until a court so determines. These distinctions are fundamental to the rule of law. But the presumption of innocence does not prevent citizens from examining the public records of people chosen to represent a presidential candidate… The question is not whether these people are guilty. It is whether a government seeking another mandate has exercised the ethical judgment expected of it in assembling its principal campaign machinery,” he further wrote.
Ardo went on to add to the list thus:
11. Senator Adams Oshiomhole
Another senior campaign figure, has likewise faced allegations concerning diversion of public funds during his tenure as Edo governor. In 2018, he challenged a court action seeking to compel the EFCC to investigate and prosecute him over alleged diversion of public funds. The allegations must not be converted into convictions, but neither should they disappear from the public record.
12. Femi Gbajabiamila
Chief of Staff to President Tinubu and a senior campaign council member, presents an especially recent case. He was reportedly questioned by the ICPC in July 2026 over its investigation into a purportedly fictitious Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council. His lawyer confirmed that he appeared before investigators in compliance with the President’s directive.
It would be irresponsible to pronounce him guilty merely because he was questioned. But it would be equally irresponsible to pretend that the investigation does not exist. The irony is obvious: an administration campaigning on its record has placed in its campaign machinery a senior presidential aide questioned by an anti-corruption agency only weeks before the council was unveiled.
13. Hadiza Bala-Usman
Hadiza Bala-Usman, the daughter of my intellectual icon of high moral probity, late Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman, listed as Assistant Secretary, has previously been subjected to official scrutiny over her stewardship of the Nigerian Ports Authority.
She was suspended as Managing Director over allegations concerning approximately N165 billion in unremitted operating surplus. The investigative panel established to examine the matter, however, did not find her guilty of financial misappropriation, although it criticised her conduct regarding official directives and insubordination. The controversy involved accusations and counter-accusations between her and her supervising Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, now the ADC vice-presidential candidate.
14. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu
Sanwo-Olu, the South-West Zonal Campaign Coordinator, is also publicly associated with an EFCC investigation involving the Lagos State Government. Premium Times reported in March 2026 that the EFCC was investigating the government’s connection to $13 million traced to contractors and linked to businesswoman Aisha Achimugu.
The report did not establish Sanwo-Olu’s personal participation in wrongdoing. The proper statement, therefore, is that a financial investigation involving his administration has generated questions concerning substantial funds. In an election, that is a legitimate matter for scrutiny.
15. Ali Modu Sheriff
Ali Modu Sheriff, the North-East Campaign Coordinator, has a long record of controversy regarding creating the dreaded Boko Haram and has faced EFCC scrutiny. According to Vanguard, in 2015 he surrendered himself to the EFCC for questioning over allegations concerning more than N300 billion in Borno State funds, with the agency investigating alleged theft and abuse of office. The following year, TheCable reported that he was again invited by the EFCC in connection with alleged PDP campaign funds.
16. Governor Uba Sani
Governor Sani, the North-West Coordinator, was the subject of a 2022 EFCC petition alleging the use of COVID-era NIRSAL funds to influence party delegates. He denied the allegation. Governor Dapo Abiodun, the Director of Fundraising, was likewise the subject of an EFCC petition by HEDA concerning alleged fraud over the presentation of a private rice farm as a state project. A petition is not a finding of guilt. But Abiodun’s appointment to oversee fundraising makes the matter worthy of scrutiny because transparency and financial integrity are indispensable to fundraising.
17. Dr Ngozi Olejeme
Olojeme, listed as Zonal Director for the South-South, falls into a different category. She was arraigned by the EFCC in October 2025 on an eight-count charge involving conversion, transfer, procurement and possession of proceeds of unlawful activity amounting to about N1 billion. She pleaded not guilty and, according to the available record, remains on trial. This is fundamentally different from an unverified allegation: she is facing criminal proceedings and remains presumed innocent.
18. Governor Hope Uzodimma
Governor Uzodimma, Secretary of the Campaign Council, was reported to have faced a criminal complaint concerning an alleged N200 million dud cheque. In October 2018, an FCT High Court referred the complaint to the EFCC for investigation and action. The matter appears dormant, with neither conviction nor acquittal.
19. Senator Abdullahi Adamu
Senator Adamu, former governor of Nasarawa State, was reportedly charged on 149 EFCC counts involving alleged fraud and money laundering of approximately N15 billion; that case also appears effectively dormant, with no conviction established nor acquittal entered.
