By Rayyanu Bala

There are many ways politicians react when they lose a party ticket. Some become bitter. Others turn their supporters against the party, organise protests, or make the political environment almost impossible for everyone involved. But every now and then, a good politician, a politician who knows his onion reminds us that losing an election does not have to mean losing one’s dignity.

That is the lesson Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State is asking politicians to learn from Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada.

Speaking at the 2026 Nasarawa Youth Summit in Akwanga yesterday, Governor Sule recalled the events surrounding Wadada’s departure from the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2023 elections.

According to the Governor, delegates who had initially indicated their support for Wadada’s governorship ambition were changed overnight. Sule described the development as unjust.

Yet Wadada did not respond with violence, bitterness or a campaign of destruction against his former party. He simply moved on.
He left the APC, sought his mandate on another platform and campaigned for his ambition.

Remarkably, he also supported Governor Sule’s re-election campaign, despite not receiving reciprocal political support. In the end, Wadada won his own election on the platform of another party.

This, in my view, is what political maturity should look like.
And Wadada’s good conduct did not end there.
Even last year, when he decided to leave the Social Democratic Party (SDP), to his former party the APC, he again demonstrated the same remarkable restraint. He did not turn his departure into a political war with the SDP. He left peacefully and, in a gesture that says a great deal about his character, he donated vehicles to officials of the SDP.

Think about that for a moment. A politician leaving a political party could easily have chosen bitterness, accusations and recriminations. Instead, Wadada left the SDP with civility and even gave something back to the party he was leaving.

Wadada’s actions are a hallmark of a politician who knows his onion.

Politics is, after all, a game of changing circumstances. Alliances change. Parties change. People who are political allies today may find themselves on opposite sides tomorrow. What should remain constant is character.

Wadada understood this distinction from day one when he ventured into politics. That’s why he always says, “Politics is dynamic.”

You can disagree with a party without destroying it. You can lose a primary without declaring war on those who defeated you. You can leave a political platform without becoming its enemy. Most importantly, you can pursue your ambition without asking your supporters to resort to violence or intimidation.

That is the message Governor Sule is passing to politicians as the 2027 elections approach, and it is a message worth taking seriously.

Nigerian politics already carries enough tension. Young people, especially, should not be recruited into political violence simply because an aspirant lost a primary or changed political platforms. Political ambition is legitimate; violence is not.
There will always be winners and losers in an election. The real test is not only how a politician behaves when everything is going his way, but how he behaves when things do not go according to plan.

On that score, Wadada’s political journey offers not only an interesting example but also a valuable case study.

Whether in his exit from the APC in 2023 or his peaceful departure from the SDP last year, his conduct suggests that political disagreement does not have to become personal warfare.
And perhaps that is the kind of politics Nigeria needs more of: politicians who can fight for their ambitions without fighting their fellow citizens; politicians who can leave without burning the house behind them; politicians who understand that today’s opponent may be tomorrow’s ally.

In politics, knowing when to fight is important. Knowing when to walk away peacefully is wisdom.
Wadada has shown that he knows both.