Uba Sani’s Running Mate Choice and the Politics of Inclusion

Kaduna State is Nigeria compressed into a single geography, carrying the country’s full weight of religious diversity, ethnic complexity and political tension, and every major political decision made there echoes far beyond its borders.

On July 28, 2026, Governor Uba Sani announced Jerry Adams, a Christian from Southern Kaduna, as his running mate for the 2027 governorship election. Adams currently serves as Executive Chairman of the Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service, bringing administrative credentials to a ticket that is also making a pointed statement about representation.

The decision restores something Kaduna had maintained without interruption from 1999 to 2019: a faith-balanced governorship ticket. Muslim governors paired with Christian deputies, Christian governors with Muslim ones, through administrations spanning Ahmed Makarfi, Patrick Yakowa, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero and others. The arrangement was never written into law, but it functioned as an unspoken covenant.

Former Governor Nasir El-Rufai ended it in 2019, fielding a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Uba Sani, who succeeded El-Rufai, carried the same arrangement through his 2023 campaign. The consequences were felt most sharply in Southern Kaduna, where Christian communities voiced sustained frustration over their exclusion from the state’s highest offices.

Sani’s announcement acknowledged as much directly. He stated that Kaduna had learned difficult lessons about the costs of division and exclusion, framing the Adams nomination as a step toward reconciliation rather than mere electoral arithmetic.

Whether the choice is read as sincere conviction or strategic positioning depends on the observer. A gesture rooted in political calculation can still produce genuine social good if it holds. The real measure will come in the governance that follows any electoral victory: whether Southern Kaduna sees security improvements, economic investment and equitable attention alongside its symbolic seat at the table.

Adams is a credible choice on his own terms, but a deputy governorship is only as meaningful as the administration it sits within.