Abdullahi Sule, governor of Nasarawa State, was allegedly involved in a secret meeting in Saudi Arabia where he pledged financial support for Atiku Abubakar to defeat Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 election.

Report revealed that Mr Sule, the Nasarawa governor and a stalwart of the ruling All Progressives Congress, met with Mr Abubakar at the Conrad Jabal Omar Hotel in Mecca on March 11, 2026, during the lesser hajj.

The closed-door meeting, which lasted about two hours, was held during iftar (the evening meal Muslims eat after the sun has gone down during Ramadan).

Mr Abubakar, a former chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party and estranged ally of Mr Tinubu, joined the new opposition party, African Democratic Congress, in 2025 to unseat the incumbent president, who is seeking a second term.

Mr Sule, who had previously ruled out vying for political office once he completes his second term as governor, recently revealed that he was considering running for the Nasarawa North senatorial seat in 2027.

According to report, Mr Sule’s face-to-face endorsement of Mr Abubakar’s presidential bid aimed to secure a position for himself should the latter win the presidency.

One source familiar with the development said the Nasarawa governor was “putting his eggs in more than one basket”. The source also noted that, during the meeting, Mr Sule revealed his interest in the presidency to return to the North.

“Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa met with Atiku Abubakar in Saudi Arabia weeks ago. He had a two-hour meeting with Atiku at Conrad Jabal Omar Hotel in Makka on Wednesday, 11th of March, 2026. The meeting was held at night during iftar,” a source familiar with the details of the meeting held in Saudi Arabia told The Gazette on Thursday.

It was gathered that Mr Abubakar promised Mr Sule the support of his ardent followers in Nasarawa to ensure his emergence as the senator representing Nasarawa North. The governor was also promised juicy appointments to senatorial committees.

“(During the meeting, Mr Sule) pledged to ensure that Atiku wins Nasarawa in the 2027 presidential election. They agreed on returning power to the north,” one of the sources stated.

It was unclear how much the governor promised to funnel to Mr Abubakar’s campaign, but there were recent insider claims that the opposition leader had gone broke, especially after running four unsuccessful presidential campaigns since 2007.

His personal businesses, most notably logistics giant Intels, were targeted by the Buhari administration, further depleting his fortunes and crippling his ability to mount an ardent challenge to the ruling party candidate in Mr Tinubu.

It was not immediately clear how many ruling party governors are secretly looking to sabotage Mr Tinubu’s reelection in favour of Mr Abubakar, but Mr Sule’s case mirrored similar tactics seen as recently as 2015, when ruling party allies of then-incumbent Goodluck Jonathan deployed resources to help opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari.

A source close to the Tinubu camp said concerns have soared recently that some ruling party governors and senators, almost exclusively from northern Nigeria, might abandon the president at the last minute should Mr Abubakar get the main opposition ADC’s ticket.

“It’s been our concern lately that some of our party’s governors and senators might betray the president if Atiku Abubakar becomes the candidate of the ADC,” an administration official said under anonymity Thursday night. “We don’t yet know what to do about this dilemma, and I will be lying to you if I say we can ever successfully prevent it.”