President Bola Tinubu has mandated his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila and Special Adviser on Political Matters, Ibrahim Masari, to provide presidential supervision over the All Progressives Congress, APC, primary elections for Senate and House of Representatives seats ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The move follows recent high-level engagements with Senators and House of Representatives members insisting on adherence to internal party democracy.
Under the new arrangement, the supervisory team comprising Gbajabiamila and Masari will interface with APC state governors and the party’s National Working Committee, NWC, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives in delivering their presidential assignment.
The duo is expected to liaise closely with governors and party leaders to ensure peaceful, transparent and credible primaries nationwide, while providing the President with regular feedback on the conduct of the exercise.
The supervision, however, will not replace the statutory role of the APC National Secretariat, which will continue to lawfully organise and conduct the primaries in line with the Electoral Act as amended and the party’s guidelines.
The supervisory team is to focus on political coordination, monitoring adherence to due process and assisting in conflict management, while the NWC retains formal responsibility for issuing notices, screening aspirants, deploying primary panels and collating results.
Many top politicians are reported to be mounting pressure on the President to expand the membership of the supervisory structure to accommodate more interests. Tinubu has so far resisted these overtures, wary of creating a platform that could dilute or jeopardise the lawful role of the party in conducting a free, fair and credible primary election process.