1979 Gongola State gubernatorial election

The 1979 Gongola State gubernatorial election occurred on 28 July 1979.^[1] GNPP's Abubakar Barde won election for a first term to become Gongola State's first executive governor leading with 47.6%, defeating main opposition NPN's candidate, Ahmed Mahmudu Ribadu,^[2][3] who polled 34.6% in the contest.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]}

Abubakar Barde emerged GNPP's flag bearer after defeating his closest contestant, Wilberforce Juta, who later became his running mate, at the party primary election by a margin of just three votes.^{[2][15][16][17][18]}