The All Progressives Congress has finalised its list of candidates for the 2027 general elections and ruled out any review of the recently concluded primaries despite mounting petitions and protests by dozens of aggrieved aspirants across the country.
Findings revealed that the ruling party has concluded work on the results submitted to its national secretariat and is preparing to upload the names of successful candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission portal.
The development effectively shuts the door on fresh appeals and demands for fresh primaries by disgruntled members who have accused party officials of manipulation and imposition during the exercise.
The APC, according to a principal official of the party and another member of the National Working Committee, has neither altered nor is considering reviewing the results of the recently concluded primaries.
“We are not reviewing the results of the primaries. The timeline for primaries and appeals has already elapsed. We are waiting for the code to upload the results of the winners of the primaries.
Everything has been concluded. We don’t know anything about the review they are talking about,” the principal official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sunday PUNCH on Friday.
INEC has fixed June 26 for the release of access codes to its nomination portal and July 11 as the deadline for the submission of candidates’ particulars for the 2027 general elections.
‘Appeals didn’t make any significant change’
No fewer than 54 serving federal lawmakers, including ranking senators and members of the House of Representatives, failed to secure re-election tickets during the APC primaries held between May 16 and 18.
Many of the aggrieved aspirants, particularly those who lost out in Lagos, Delta, Zamfara, Kogi, Rivers, Plateau and Osun states, have lodged petitions, threatened legal action and demanded fresh primaries.
When asked about reports of the primary election appeal panels set up by the party to address issues raised by aggrieved aspirants across the country, the party chieftain said, “From what I have seen, the appeal reports didn’t make any significant changes to the primary results because a lot of the petitions were found to be frivolous.
“But any appeal that was well made would have been considered. Some of the appeals are talking about zoning issues, which are pre-primary matters.
“Some are talking about clearance, that somebody did not properly resign from the PDP before joining the APC. Is that a basis to challenge our primaries? Those are examples of frivolous issues people raised in their petitions.
“There are 109 senatorial districts and 360 House of Representatives constituencies, with thousands of House of Assembly seats. I can tell you that there is no appeal in the majority of these constituencies. So, where is the primary review report coming from? The results to be announced may not be different from what has already been known.
The senator representing Delta North Senatorial District, Ned Nwoko, is challenging the outcome of the APC primary in which he lost to the former governor of the state, Ifeanyi Okowa.
Nwoko, according to a party insider privy to the petition, is challenging Okowa’s victory on the grounds that the former governor did not resign from the Peoples Democratic Party before joining the APC.
Okowa joined the APC on April 23 alongside the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori.
Similarly, some aggrieved APC aspirants in Rivers State have reportedly challenged the emergence of Kingsley Chinda as the governorship candidate of the party.
Chinda, at the time he participated in the primary, was the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency.
Apparently referring to the petition against Chinda, the APC official said, “Even in the Rivers case, the fact that a particular aspirant’s membership of the party is evidenced by his name on the register is sufficient, regardless of whether he is a minority leader or not.”