Yobe, created from Borno in 1991, shares its larger neighbour’s political habits. The PDP has never won a governorship election there. Every governor since 1999 has come from the All People’s Party (APP), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) or, since 2013, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the ruling party has usually won by wide margins. Like Borno, Yobe has held its recent elections in the shadow of the Boko Haram insurgency.
1999 and 2003: Bukar Abba Ibrahim
Bukar Abba Ibrahim, who had already governed the state in the Third Republic, won the January 1999 election for the APP with 150,688 votes against 140,948 for the PDP’s Baba Goni Machina, the closest result in the state’s history. Turnout was low, with about 317,000 of 878,000 registered voters casting ballots. He was re-elected for the ANPP in April 2003 with 368,806 votes to 188,262 for the PDP’s Adamu Waziri.
2007 and 2009: Mamman Bello Ali and a death in office
Ibrahim’s successor, Mamman Bello Ali, won the April 2007 election for the ANPP with 210,166 votes, narrowly ahead of Waziri’s 186,399. He fell ill and died in the United States in January 2009, less than two years into his term. His deputy, Ibrahim Gaidam, was sworn in the same day.
2011 and 2015: Gaidam in the insurgency years
Gaidam won a full term in April 2011, beating the PDP’s Senator Usman Albishir, a former ANPP stalwart, by 436,998 votes to 195,449. His second term coincided with some of the worst Boko Haram attacks in Yobe, including school massacres in Mamudo and Buni Yadi, and a state of emergency declared over Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in May 2013. Now in the APC, he was re-elected on 11 April 2015 with 334,847 votes against 179,700 for the PDP’s Adamu Maina Waziri, winning 16 of the 17 local governments. Gaidam’s victory survived challenges at the tribunal and the appeal courts.
2019 and 2023: Mai Mala Buni
In 2018 the APC’s national secretary, Mai Mala Buni, won the party’s governorship primary in Yobe with 2,797 votes against 23 for his nearest rival. He took 444,013 votes (81.3%) in March 2019 against 95,703 for the PDP’s Umar Iliya Damagum, who later became the PDP’s acting national chairman. From 2020 to 2022 Buni also served as chairman of the APC’s national caretaker committee while governing the state.
He was re-elected on 18 March 2023 with 317,113 votes (71.3%) against 124,259 for the PDP’s Sharif Abdullahi, a former Bade local government chairman, who rejected the result.
The results at a glance
| Year | Winner (party) | Votes | Runner-up (party) | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Bukar Abba Ibrahim (APP) | 150,688 | Baba Goni Machina (PDP) | 140,948 |
| 2003 | Bukar Abba Ibrahim (ANPP) | 368,806 | Adamu Waziri (PDP) | 188,262 |
| 2007 | Mamman Bello Ali (ANPP) | 210,166 | Adamu Waziri (PDP) | 186,399 |
| 2011 | Ibrahim Gaidam (ANPP) | 436,998 | Usman Albishir (PDP) | 195,449 |
| 2015 | Ibrahim Gaidam (APC) | 334,847 | Adamu Maina Waziri (PDP) | 179,700 |
| 2019 | Mai Mala Buni (APC) | 444,013 | Umar Iliya Damagum (PDP) | 95,703 |
| 2023 | Mai Mala Buni (APC) | 317,113 | Sharif Abdullahi (PDP) | 124,259 |
2027: a new APC candidate
Buni cannot run again. INEC’s final list for the 6 February 2027 election, published in October 2026, names Wali Baba Mallam as the APC candidate, Usman Abdullahi for the PDP and Kassim Gaidam for the ADC. The APC starts as the strong favourite in a state it and its predecessors have never lost.
