Have Nigerian Governors Lost Their Powers?

In the wake of political defections by Nigerian governors, there are questions about their influence and how much of these defections significantly affect the country’s political trajectory.

Nigeria’s most influential political figures are arguably its governors. Every elected president since 1999 has either been a former military head of state or a former governor. Three of the four frontrunners in the 2023 presidential election (Bola Tinubu, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso) were former two-term governors, and the fourth (Atiku Abubakar) was elected governor but left office before the end of his term to become vice president. Governors have also become influential as party chairs; every elected or appointed chair of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was a governor. They have played key roles in seminal moments in Nigerian history, such as the doctrine of necessity that elevated Goodluck Jonathan to the acting presidency, pushing back against the naira redesign change, and engaging with the proposed tax reform. Not all these positions are popular or necessarily ‘for the greater good’, but their impact shows this class of citizens’ importance. For better or worse, few groups are as influential and integral to political outcomes as governors.

Governors are also influential because of the expectation that their movement often ‘flips’ a state. On 23 April 2025, Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC. He did so with a retinue of prominent state officials, including his predecessor and PDP’s 2023 vice-presidential nominee, Ifeanyi Okowa, who has since acknowledged a strong aversion to another northern president succeeding Muhammadu Buhari. Subsequent defections by Delta State federal lawmakers have suddenly put a state that had voted for PDP’s presidential nominee in all but one presidential election into APC’s column. The status of governors as party leaders in the state has often led to a sense that courting them is all that is needed for a party’s fortunes.

But the seeming inevitability of a powerful governor appears to be on the wane. Different policies and procedures appeared geared towards checking the strength of this unique class of citizens. Former officeholders in more federal positions are using their experiences to inform how they manage power at the expense of their successors. Increased political awareness, active political stakeholders, and general scrutiny mean that the political careerist’s dream of serving in the national legislature, then two terms as governor before becoming president, might be blocked for future generations. If governors are increasingly checked, it could open the door to a new, uncertain era of Nigerian politics...