[3] Incumbent APC Governor Abdullahi Sule won election to a second term by a 9.8% margin of victory over PDP nominee — former House of Representatives member David Ombugadu.
[4] The primaries, scheduled for between 4 April and 9 June 2022, resulted in Sule being renominated by the All Progressives Congress by a wide margin on 26 May while the Peoples Democratic Party nominated Ombugadu on 25 May.
[5][6] On 21 March, INEC declared Sani as the victor amid considerable protests due to alleged electoral irregularities, particularly contested vote totals in two wards of Lafia.
In October, the electoral tribunal overturned the result to award the victory to Ombugadu;[8] however, an appeals court judgment the following month upheld Sule's win.
The disagreement intensified into a subtle cold war when Adamu resigned from the Senate to become APC National Chairman in March 2022 and gained extensive power over the party at-large leading to rumours that he was planning on replacing Al-Makura and Akwashiki with closer allies.
[27][28] To ensure party unity, Orogu held a meeting on 25 April with Maku, Angbazo, and David Ombugadu (the other candidate) where all three committed to working together to unseat Sule irrespective of the primary winner.
[6] In June, Ombugadu's running mate was announced as Yahaya Usman-Ohinoyi—former House of Assembly member—at a meeting with PDP State Working Committee members in Lafia.
[34] Candidates' vote share After the primaries, analysts noted the main change from the previous two gubernatorial elections: Labaran Maku not running as the APGA nominee.
[42] For his part, Sule and the APC campaigned on milestones from his term with a focus on newly constructed and rehabilitated roads, upgraded health infrastructure, and the timely payment of civil servant salaries.
[42] This focus lead to intense attention on the statewide results in the 2023 presidential election; Peter Obi (LP) won the state with 35% of the vote, beating Bola Tinubu (APC) at 33% and Atiku Abubakar (PDP) at 27%.