At the beginning of his term, Abubakar said his administration would focus on youth empowerment, human development, and social services.
[7] In terms of his performance, Abubakar was praised for his financial prudence but was criticized for frequent absences from Dutse and a lack of government transparency along with going on vacation amid deadly floods in September 2022.
[19] The next day, nine candidates continued to an indirect primary in Kazaure that ended with Umar Namadi—Deputy Governor and former Commissioner for Finance—emerging as the APC nominee after results showed Namadi winning over 85% of the delegates' votes.
In early 2022, Aminu Ibrahim Ringim (a former state cabinet official who was the PDP gubernatorial nominee in 2015 and 2019) and many of his allies defected from the PDP to join the NNPP amid a surge in NNPP ranks after former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso joined the party.
[32] On the date of the primary, former MHR Bashir Adamu withdrew from the race but pledged his support to whichever candidate was nominated by the party.
[5] On 11 June, Lamido picked state PDP Chairman Babandi Ibrahim Gumel as his running mate.
For Namadi, observers focused on the inability for incumbent Jigawa governors to get their hand-picked successors to succeed them while Lamido's lack of governing experience was also mentioned.
Gubernatorial campaign analysis from after the presidential election noted the role of the Lamido family in the state PDP's renewal while observing increasingly tense regional dynamics between emirate communities.
[46] On 26 February 2022, the Independent National Electoral Commission released the timetable, setting out key dates and deadlines for the election.
[48] Months later on 27 May 2022, INEC made a slight revision to the timetable, allowing parties extra time to conduct primaries.