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The National Assembly primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has raised a lot of dust. There are reports of troubling cases of a punctured democratic process, with allegations of imposition of candidates and manipulations of election results.
Pundits are of the view that if politicians find it difficult to manage elections at the party level, how do they want to convince Nigerians that the 2027 general elections will be free, fair and credible, and that quality candidates will be thrown up, especially when this is coming from the ruling party.
During the APC primaries, there were reports of election rigging and miracle numbers production were the order of the day. Magic numbers emerged, even total results released in some cases tripled the number of voters.
A few days ago trending videos emerged on social media where the people counting members on the queue jumped from 80 to 200, 50 to 100 and so on. This has since been generating reactions from the public and the issue of transparency in the exercise.
A searchlight on the primary election across the countries reveals that there is dissatisfaction and discontent everywhere, from Adamawa to Cross River, Lagos to Katsina States, etcetera. The APC members have called out the party leadership, seeking intervention especially from the national leadership. Even some of them appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to step in, not minding that the function of the electoral body is only to observe during primary elections.
Some of the APC members complained of total mix up in the exercise, stressing that those assigned to conduct the elections across the country, jettisoned the 2026 electoral act and even the guidelines from the national office of the party.
In Nasarawa State, concerned APC members protested alleged irregularities during the party’s National Assembly primaries, warning that unresolved grievances could threaten party unity ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The group, led by Abdullahi Yammani, raised the concerns during a press conference in Lafia, where it called on the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, to urgently intervene and address complaints surrounding the conduct of the primaries.
According to Yammani, failure to resolve the grievances could create avoidable internal crises capable of affecting the unity, stability, and electoral fortunes of the APC in Nasarawa State ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Yammani, alleged that several wards in Lafia and surrounding areas either received election materials late or were not supplied with materials at all, thereby disenfranchising many party members from participating in the exercise.
He also faulted the absence of coordinated arrangements for the collation and submission of results across the state, stressing that the situation created confusion and raised concerns over the credibility and transparency of the process.
“There are growing concerns among party faithful regarding decisions taken during the exercise that appeared to favour certain candidates and individuals, thereby raising questions about fairness and neutrality in the process,” he said.
The group also alleged that officials expected from the APC national headquarters in Abuja were not visibly present in several affected areas during the conduct of the elections.
The aggrieved members demanded an urgent and inclusive stakeholders’ meeting involving aspirants, party leaders, and officials deployed from the APC national headquarters to review the conduct of the primaries and address issues arising from the process.
They also called for the proper establishment of designated and accessible collation centres across the state to enhance transparency and restore confidence among party members.
“As loyal members of the APC, we believe that fairness, justice, and transparency must always guide every democratic process within the party to sustain unity and strengthen the confidence of members ahead of future political engagements,” Yammani stated.
In the Adamawa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), stakeholders staged a protest in Numan over the conduct of the House of Representatives primary for the Demsa, Numan and Lamurde Federal Constituency.
Hundreds of party stakeholders, aspirants, youth and women groups converged on the APC zonal secretariat in Numan to voice their grievances.
The demonstration was triggered by claims that the primary was manipulated to favour Mr. Kwamoti La’ori, described as a longtime ally of Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.
Protesters carried placards bearing messages such as ‘No to Imposition’, ‘Let the People Decide’, and ‘Democracy Must Prevail’.
They argued that no credible election was held, adding that an unpopular candidate had been imposed against the will of the constituency.
The crowd said the development represented a dangerous slide towards anarchy within the party’s internal democratic process, while many insisted that grassroots members should be allowed to choose their representatives without interference.
The aggrieved stakeholders accused Governor Fintiri of betraying the trust placed in him by backing what they called an undemocratic and unfair process, adding that his involvement undermined the confidence people had in his leadership.
The protesters expressed disappointment that despite Fintiri’s growing political influence in the Southern Senatorial Zone, he allowed what they termed an ‘electoral heist’ to take place within the APC. They noted that Adamawa South has long been his political foothold.
They expressed frustration that the governor is repaying the zone with betrayal, saying that a major miscalculation could weaken the party’s standing ahead of the 2027 general election. They warned that the fallout might create deep divisions within the APC.
Recall that section 84(2) of the 2026 electoral act, stipulates that the procedure for the nomination of candidates by political parties for the various elective positions shall be by direct primaries or consensus. For consensus to be valid, you need written consent from all cleared aspirants stepping down. If one aspirant refuses, the party must revert to direct primaries.
Cletus Obun, a former House of Representatives member, said that no election happened in his zone and those assigned to conduct the election never showed up nor did any material arrive to the various wards in his senatorial zone.
He denied insinuation that there was any consensus arrangement, saying that nobody approached him to agree on a consensus arrangement as stipulated by the electoral act.
He said, “Materials never left Calabar headquarters, to anywhere. So, for me, what happened on Saturday, and what is happening across the country, because I’ve talked to some of my colleagues in some of the states, who have confirmed that what I’m discussing here is my own practical experience.”
Obun called for the cancellation of the election, saying that those who failed to conduct the election should be expelled from the party.
“In our party constitution what we expected is that people are going to be sent genuinely by the party officials, the state chairman, the national chairman, the organising secretary will do everything and send the people to the ground. But some desperate members later hijacked and prevented that from happening. And the punishment for that is expulsion. That is what I want to see. Those who were sent to conduct that election and they didn’t do so, should be finished up and punished. In the party constitution, those who prevent that should face direct expulsion. Incompetent persons putting themselves forward because they have godfathers, is a problem for the party because they cannot win the election for the party during the main election.
The number of aspirants who rejected the outcome of the National Assembly primaries have continued to increase.
Former Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly and Kaduna Central senatorial aspirant, Yusuf Ibrahim Zailani, while rejecting the outcome of the exercise insisted that no valid primary election was conducted across the zone.
Zailani’s campaign council, while addressing journalists on Tuesday, alleged that the process was flawed, non-transparent and didn’t meet the standards set by the APC.
Also, a senatorial aspirant in Bauchi South Senatorial District, Abdulmumin Kundak, alleged that no valid primary election was conducted in the district.
In a press conference on Tuesday, in Bauchi, he maintained that there was no evidence that any primary election took place across the senatorial district.
The story is the same in Ekiti State, where an aspirant, Sen Ayo Arise, rejected the results of the primary election, saying that it doesn’t reflect what happened in the wards of Ekiti North.
He declared that he won the Ekiti North Senatorial District primary held on Monday with 8,687 votes, defeating the incumbent senator Cyril Fasuyi, who had 7,755 votes.
In Cross Rivers State, the Senator representing Cross River central senatorial district, Sen. Eteng Jones Williams and former APC national women’s leader, Ms. Mary Ekpere called on her supporters and party members to discard the APC Central Senatorial District results as circulated.
Another notable issue was the case of former Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege, who rejected the outcome of the APC Delta Central Senatorial Primary, where the party’s electoral committee declared senator Ede Dafinone winner with 116,252 votes against his 3,643
Omo-Agege, in a statement, insisted he won the exercise based on ward-level collation across the eight local government areas, and called for calm while awaiting clarification from the APC national leadership.
Dafinone, on his part, believes that the election was transparent and that Omo-Agee lost because he refused to accept the new members of the party who joined from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), especially Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.
Speaking on Arise TV on Tuesday, he said, “Let me say that the process was free and transparent. But when you ask what went right and what went wrong, I want to take us back to 2023, where I participated in the elections for the Senate. Out of the eight local governments that make up Delta Central, I won five local governments. The Deputy President of the Senate ran for governor at that time and won in just four of the local governments of Delta Central. Roll forward to 2025, where our governor announces that the members of the PDP are moving across to our party, the APC. At that time, myself and many leaders of the APC welcomed the governor into the party. Senator Omo-Agege refused to acknowledge the governor as the leader of the party and stayed away from that process. So for the last 12 months, myself and many others in the APC have familiarised ourselves with those who came to the party. We have gotten to know them, broken bread with them, attended meetings in order to build a party. Throughout that process, the former Deputy President of the Senate stayed away. It is now time for primaries, and he feels that the small faction of the party that was with him in the old APC will deliver him at the primaries. It cannot happen. The party is made up of both the former PDP members and the old APC members, of which I also have a significant support base. So his result of yesterday is really a reflection of the fact that he stayed away from the new party and left the space empty, which of course myself and others have taken up the space in order to become candidates of the party in the primaries. I should also say that I have been involved in the politics of the state since 1998. I was a founding member of the PDP and first contested primaries for the Senate in 2006 and again in 2011.
“So I’m not new to politics and I have played politics in the PDP, in DPP, which changed to the Labour Party after some time. And then APC from 2014.So in the elections of 2023, I came into that space with support across all the parties that were in the field in Delta State at that time. To be honest, I must say with the reputation that I have made and my father, who was also senator for the same region, helped me to gain access to my people, gain their support. I think I also present myself to my people as somebody who is accessible.”
In a related development, Senator Ned Nwoko has also reacted to the Delta North senatorial primary, where former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa was declared winner by the party’s electoral committee with over 100,000 votes.
Nwoko said there was “no doubt where the mandate lies,” thanking supporters for their massive turnout and urging them to remain hopeful and united while the party concludes the process.
Reacting to outcome of the election, Chief Barr Tonnie Oganah, Media Director of Anioma State creation, on Tuesday cautioned those celebrating what he described as the so-called victory of their candidate to exercise restraint lest they run fowl of the law, saying that the official and authentic results of the exercise which held on Monday can only be announced from the All Progressives Congress (APC) national headquarters in Abuja and signed by the chairman of the party.
Oganah, in a statement on Tuesday noted that all the candidates in the election have their strongholds and announcing partial results amount to half-truth and half-truths are embellished lies capable of misleading the public.
He said, “Ned Nwoko symbolises the Anioma dream of identity and economic liberation as he wants Anioma to have 3 Senators and 9 House of Representatives members as opposed to only one Senator and three House of Representatives members that it currently has.
“He also desires that the list of state assembly members and councilors will triple whilst new local government areas will be created with Asaba remaining as capital.
According to the statement, Anioma people are not stupid and short sighted as to abandon their bright future because of mere crumbs and inducement offered by other candidates.
“Ned Nwoko has been known to be the first top politician in Delta State to openly declare support for President Tinubu and APC long before others joined and at the appropriate time during elections in January 2027 the entire Anioma nation will say thank you by voting APC all the way.
“What is more, there has to be clear evidence in the public domain of resignation from a former political party before membership of a new party can be valid under both the electoral law and the APC constitution. Membership of two or more political parties is an offence and no one is above the law.”
There is the fear that the outcome of the primaries in the ruling party may affect the fortunes of the party in the forthcoming general elections if the national leadership of the party fails to address the issues urgently.
Pundits are of the view that some members of the party who may not be able to move to other parties to pursue their ambitions because of the barrier placed by the 2026 electoral act may just remain in the party and work against it in 2027.
