Yobe APC Chairman Turns Marriage Into Campaign Strategy, Then Quickly Calls It “Joking Banter”

The Yobe State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Mohammed Gadaka, has stirred controversy after reportedly telling married women that they should leave their husbands if the men attempted to stop them from voting for the APC in the 2027 general elections. In an extraordinary addition to the political advice, Gadaka reportedly offered to pay the bride price of any woman who took such a step. The remarks have since generated criticism, while the chairman has apologised and withdrawn them, saying they were merely a joke.

Yobe APC Chairman Offers Bride Price After Urging Women to Leave Husbands Over Voting Choice

Gadaka reportedly made the comments while addressing supporters and defectors in Nangere, Yobe State, as the APC continues its grassroots mobilisation ahead of the 2027 elections. The statement effectively turned a simple question of voting preference into what sounded like a political test for marital relationships—leaving Nigerians to wonder whether campaign promises had suddenly acquired wedding bells.

The chairman’s intervention is particularly striking because political persuasion is normally expected to involve manifestos, policies and campaign promises, not instructions on what spouses should do with their marriages. And while the remark may have been delivered in a humorous setting, its subject matter inevitably attracted attention because voting choices are personal matters and family relationships are considerably more complicated than party slogans.

Yobe APC Chairman Says Divorce Remark Was Only a Joke

The controversy did not remain on the campaign platform. Following the backlash, Gadaka issued an apology and withdrew the remark. In a video shared by Governor Mai Mala Buni’s Director-General of Press and Media Affairs, he explained that the statement was intended as joking banter connected to teasing between ethnic groups and was not meant to encourage divorce.

The timing is notable because Gadaka was re-elected as Yobe APC chairman in March 2026, while the party has recently been working to strengthen unity and reconciliation ahead of the 2027 elections. The state APC also announced zonal reconciliation committees only days before the controversy, with the stated aim of resolving grievances and strengthening party cohesion. In that context, the marriage-and-politics episode has provided an unexpected reminder that political jokes can sometimes travel much farther than the speaker intended.

For now, the political wedding bells appear to have been switched off, with Gadaka’s apology putting the immediate controversy into retreat. But as Nigerian parties intensify their campaigns for 2027, voters can expect more unusual promises, jokes and political drama—and OGM News NG will continue watching to see whether the next campaign pitch requires a manifesto, a microphone, or perhaps a marriage counsellor.