Chief Joel Hammanjoda Madaki formally withdrew from the APC Adamawa governorship race on May 20 and endorsed Abdulrahman Bashir Haske, directing his 42,000-strong support network toward the younger aspirant in an alliance both men described as the pr
- Madaki withdraws from APC governorship contest
- Former PDP chairman endorses Abdulrahman Haske
- Alliance redirects 42,000 supporters to Haske camp
- APC governorship field faces major political reshaping
Chief Joel Hammanjoda Madaki formally withdrew from the 2027 Adamawa State governorship race on Tuesday, May 20, 2026, and endorsed Abdulrahman Bashir Haske as his preferred candidate, in a development that significantly reshapes the APC governorship field and injects fresh momentum into one of the younger candidacies in the race.
Madaki made the announcement at his Yola residence before supporters, stakeholders, and colleagues in a statement that was personal in tone and deliberate in political consequence.
“Today I address you not just as an aspirant but as a servant of the people, a person who has always placed the welfare of the community above personal ambition,” he told the gathering.
He said the decision followed deep consultations with his family, stakeholders, and respected community leaders, and was driven throughout by concern for the future of Adamawa State rather than the management of his own political position. “This decision was not made lightly. It was made with careful consideration of the challenges before us and the qualities needed to confront them.”
Why Madaki Chose Haske
The choice of Haske as the recipient of Madaki’s endorsement was explained in the language of character assessment rather than political calculation. Madaki cited vision, integrity, and dedication as the qualities he identified in Haske, expressing full confidence in the younger aspirant’s capacity to champion the values shared by their combined support base.
“Abdulrahman Bashir Haske embodies the vision, integrity, and dedication required to move our state forward. I have full confidence in his ability to champion the values we all hold,” Madaki said.
He then issued a direct call to action to every member of his political network: “I am calling on all my supporters to choose, to elect, and to endorse Abdulrahman Bashir Haske as our candidate.”
The weight of that instruction is considerable. When Madaki defected from the PDP to the APC in November 2025, he brought with him more than 42,000 supporters, a bloc that APC strategists at the time calculated would more than cover the 33,000-vote margin by which the party had lost the previous governorship election. That network, now formally directed toward Haske’s candidacy, represents one of the most significant single-event transfers of political support in Adamawa’s 2027 pre-election landscape.
What Haske Said and What It Means
Haske received the endorsement with visible emotion, framing the moment not as a passive step-down by a defeated aspirant but as the culmination of substantive bilateral engagement between two campaigns that had been working toward a point of convergence.
“I feel highly emotional right now. For someone like Baba Joel Madaki today agreeing to form an alliance with me, and also to lead the movement with me, that shows that we have done some quite serious engagements and it has shown that we have started yielding fruitfulness,” Haske said.
That framing, an alliance rather than a surrender, is both politically accurate and strategically significant. Madaki is not simply withdrawing. He is joining the Haske campaign as an active partner, bringing his network, his community standing, and his decades of political experience into a candidacy that has been building since Haske’s formal declaration in April. The language of leading the movement together places Madaki inside the campaign rather than watching it from the outside.
“It comes with so much emotions and joy. I will like to thank Baba for seeing us worthy to serve our dear state,” Haske said.
The Field It Reshapes
The Madaki-Haske alliance lands in an APC governorship field that still includes Senator Aminu Iya Abbas, Abdulrazak Namdas, Dr. Salihu Bakari Girei, Engr. Diaulhaq Abubakar, Engr. Ahmed Galadima, and others who have obtained nomination forms and formally declared their candidacies.
What the alliance changes is the organisational arithmetic. Haske now enters the next phase of the primary contest with not only his own campaign structure and the AB Haske Foundation’s philanthropic network behind him, but with Madaki’s cross-LGA support blocs, his traditional and community relationships, and his specific credibility as someone who built both the PDP and the APC in Adamawa from the inside.
The note at the end of the briefing document that describes Governor Fintiri as the PDP incumbent the opposition must unseat reflects a framing error worth correcting for clarity: Governor Fintiri is an APC governor who defected from the PDP in February 2026. The APC governorship primary is therefore a contest to determine who will carry the banner of the ruling party in Adamawa State in 2027, not a race between the APC and an incumbent PDP governor.
Within that APC primary landscape, the Madaki endorsement of Haske is a significant consolidation event, and one that signals the broader candidate field may continue to narrow as the primary approaches.
Tuesday was a good day for Abdulrahman Bashir Haske. Chief Madaki made sure of it.
This report was produced by the editorial team at The Gazette News | Independent. Human-Centred. Impactful in line with our commitment to accuracy, fairness, and responsible journalism. Information in this article is based on verified sources available at the time of publication. The Gazette News | Independent. Human-Centred. Impactful may update the story as new facts emerge or additional context becomes available.
The Gazette News | Independent. Human-Centred. Impactful accepts zero funding from governments, corporations, or political parties. No advertiser dictates our coverage. No political interest shapes our investigations. The journalism you just read exists because readers like you chose to protect it. Every contribution goes directly into the field — paying reporters, protecting sources, and ensuring the stories that matter get told without fear or favour.
Funded by Readers
Us Right Now
