Former presidential aide and spokesperson of the City Boy Movement, Bashir Ahmad, has reopened controversy over the 2022 All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives primary in Kano State.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Ahmad again alleged that the exercise was rigged, while insisting that the widely reported figure of 16 votes credited to him does not reflect what actually happened.
He made the allegation on X on Friday, days after a heated exchange with Afrobeats singer David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, during which the singer mocked the former presidential aide over his performance in the primary.
The renewed controversy followed an exchange between Davido and Ahmad over the forthcoming Osun State governorship election and the controversy surrounding the freezing of the Osun State Government’s account by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The social media confrontation began after Davido reacted to a post by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga announcing that President Bola Tinubu had directed the EFCC to lift the restriction on the Osun State Government’s account.
Davido, who is supporting the re-election bid of his uncle, Governor Ademola Adeleke, wrote that he was present during the telephone conversation between Tinubu and the governor, declaring: “I was there live! I witnessed history!!!”
Ahmad responded by saying he had bookmarked the post and predicted that Davido would return to social media to complain if Adeleke failed to win the August 15 governorship election.
“This tweet is bookmarked. It will serve as a reference for future events. I know you will come back here to lament if the August 15 results don’t go your way,” Ahmad wrote.
TNG reports Davido fired back, accusing Ahmad and his political allies of being capable of influencing electoral outcomes.
“Of course because same way you clowns can call the INEC Chairman to write Election results… guy free me my own no good,” the singer wrote.
He subsequently turned the argument to Ahmad’s 2022 APC primary, using the former presidential aide’s reported 16 votes as a taunt.
“U got 16 votes bro in primaries!!” Davido wrote.
TNG reports the jab was a reference to the APC primary for the Gaya/Ajingi/Albasu Federal Constituency in Kano State, where Ahmad contested the party’s House of Representatives ticket against the incumbent lawmaker, Abdullahi Mahmoud Gaya.
Contemporary reports said Gaya defeated Ahmad in the May 27, 2022 primary, with Ahmad scoring 16 votes. TheCable reported that Gaya polled 109 votes, with Ahmad receiving one vote in Gaya, 11 in Ajingi and four in Albasu.
But the result was immediately rejected by Ahmad. At the time, the former presidential aide alleged that the exercise was not free, fair or credible and claimed that he and his supporters were denied access to the venue.
“I hereby categorically reject the process and proceeds of the primary election conducted on 27th of May, 2022 to elect the All Progressives Congress (APC) flagbearer for the position of member House of Representatives for Albasu/Gaya/Ajingi Federal Constituency,” Ahmad said in a statement reported by TheCable.
The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) also reported that Ahmad argued that the majority of delegates were prevented from voting and that both he and his agents were denied access to the venue.
“To the best of my knowledge, election at the primaries stage requires delegates to cast their votes and a winner emerges with the majority votes,” Ahmad was quoted as saying.
He also complained about the presence of thugs at the venue.
“As an aspirant, I left the venue of primary election for Gaya, Ajingi and Albasu Federal Constituency, because of the security of our majority delegates. If [I] want to compete with the best, thugs shouldn’t be part of any election,” he said at the time.
The dispute subsequently went beyond social media. Ahmad challenged the outcome in court, alleging, among other things, that 85 delegates who supported him were prevented from voting.
However, the Federal High Court in Kano dismissed his case, and the Court of Appeal later upheld Gaya’s victory. The Guardian reported that the appellate court found that Ahmad had failed to prove with certifiable evidence that the 85 delegates had been disenfranchised.
Against that background, Ahmad’s latest statement marks a significant escalation of his long-standing rejection of the 2022 primary result.
Responding to the renewed discussion, Ahmad said he was not yet prepared to disclose everything that allegedly happened during the primary but insisted that the central claim about his performance was false.
“Since the conversation surrounding my participation in the 2022 House of Representatives primary election has resurfaced, though I am not yet ready to reveal, in detail, everything that transpired during that process, but I feel it is important to say this unequivocally that it is simply not true that I got 16 votes,” he wrote.
Ahmad went further, saying the problem was not simply the number of votes attributed to him but the legitimacy of the entire exercise.
“The reality is that there was no credible primary election in the first place,” he declared.
He also expressed confidence that he would have won the APC ticket had a genuine primary been conducted.
“If there had been, I am very confident I would have been the winner,” Ahmad said.
According to him, evidence exists to substantiate his allegation that the primary was manipulated.
“There is verifiable evidence of how the process was rigged, including videos and other materials that support my claim,” he alleged.
Ahmad consequently dismissed the figures being circulated by Davido and his supporters as well as others relying on the reported outcome of the primary.
“Therefore, any figures being circulated by Davido, his supporters or anyone else from that purported exercise are misleading and do not reflect a transparent, legitimate or credible primary election,” he said.
He nevertheless declined to immediately release the evidence he referred to, promising that he would eventually provide a fuller account of the events surrounding the controversial primary.
“The full story will be told at the appropriate time,” Ahmad added.
Before Ahmad’s latest disclosure, Davido had continued his attack on the former presidential aide, arguing that Ahmad’s political career did not translate into sufficient electoral support in his constituency.
“You measure success by one award. I measure it by sold-out arenas, billions of streams, global influence, and people singing my songs across continents,” Davido wrote.
The singer also argued that Ahmad had enjoyed government backing but failed to secure enough support during the primary.
“You had government backing and still couldn’t convince enough people to back you in your small constituency,” Davido said, before describing Ahmad as “a small boy who came into politics by accident.”
He further accused Ahmad of spending eight years around former President Muhammadu Buhari without transforming his community.
“You spent 8yrs with the ex-president and couldn’t make a change in your poverty-stricken community,” Davido wrote.
The singer concluded: “We all have different trophies, Bashir. I’ll keep inspiring the young ones and generations to come while you wait for the next government job to get crumbs.”
Ahmad responded by shifting the argument to Davido’s Grammy record.
“We have talked enough about the number of votes I got in my primaries. Can we now talk about the number of Grammy Awards you have won from your five nominations, David? Fair is fair,” he wrote.
The former presidential aide subsequently returned to the political argument, accusing those who anticipated electoral defeat of crying foul before votes were cast.
“In politics, it is always those who know they lack a solid structure and have no real support on the ground who start screaming and crying rigging even before a single ballot is cast,” Ahmad said.
The exchange has since evolved from a disagreement over the Osun election into a broader clash over electoral credibility, political influence and the records of both men.
Davido has openly backed Adeleke’s re-election bid, while Ahmad, a prominent figure associated with the APC, has been campaigning against the governor’s return. The confrontation comes just days before the August 15 Osun governorship election, giving the dispute an added political dimension.
For now, Ahmad’s claim that the 2022 APC primary was rigged remains an allegation. Although he says he possesses videos and other materials capable of supporting his account, those materials were not included in the statement under review.
The established public record shows that he rejected the primary result in 2022, challenged it in court and lost, while the reported result credited him with 16 votes against Gaya’s winning tally.
His latest intervention, however, suggests that the former presidential aide intends to revisit the controversy and eventually present what he describes as the “full story” of the disputed primary later on.