The All Progressives Congress has come under heavy criticism over its decision to alter the list of candidates who emerged from its National Assembly primaries.
The move has also triggered fresh concerns about internal democracy and the credibility of the APC’s candidate selection process ahead of the 2027 general elections.
While the Peoples Democratic Party mocked the APC for substituting the names of some primary winners with others, the Social Democratic Party described the move as reckless, while the Labour Party condemned it as undemocratic.
But the APC asked the opposition to mind its business and focus on the crises rocking their respective parties.
The ruling party said the changes reflected fairness and wishes of its members.
Last week, the APC directed its state chapters to release the list of candidates for the 2027 elections, while also issuing the Independent National Electoral Commission nomination forms for completion and submission.
The development, however, was greeted with mixed reactions, as some aspirants who had earlier been declared winners alleged that they have been replaced, following the May Primary Election Appeal Commission’s review of petitions arising from the primaries.
According to reports, the APC National Working Committee overturned the victories of several senatorial candidates and restored six serving senators in nine states, following the recommendations of its appeal committee.
The decision came despite INEC’s warning that it would reject the names of candidates who did not emerge from primaries monitored by the commission, creating fresh uncertainty over the ruling party’s revised nominations ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Our correspondents gathered that the APC NWC, acting on the recommendations of the appeal committee, replaced winners of the May senatorial primaries in Kogi, Abia, Benue, Taraba, Ondo, Niger, Kwara, Kaduna and Ebonyi states, restoring several incumbent lawmakers whose initial defeats had sparked outrage within the ruling party.
The revised list restored the tickets of six serving senators: Sunday Karimi (Kogi West), Emmanuel Udende (Benue North-East), Titus Zam (Benue North-West), Shuaibu Isa Lau (Taraba North), Adeniyi Adegbonmire (Ondo Central), and Olajide Ipinsagba (Ondo North), while Prince Paul Ikonne replaced Edinburgh Erondu in Abia South.
Ikonne is a former Chief Executive Officer of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority.
One of the biggest casualties of the review was former Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam, whose earlier victory in the Benue North-East primary was nullified in favour of the incumbent senator, Emmanuel Udende.
The revised candidate list has since triggered internal disagreements and raised legal concerns across several states where the primaries were conducted.
PDP mocks APC
Commenting on the development, the PDP described the APC’s action as evidence of a deepening internal crisis, confusion, and lack of transparency within the ruling party.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Mohammed, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, said the party would rather capitalise on the crisis to reclaim power.
He recalled that President Bola Tinubu had previously expressed satisfaction at seeing the PDP in disarray, saying it was only natural for the opposition to also welcome the APC’s current difficulties.
Mohammed also said the party remained open to welcoming politicians who felt unfairly treated by their parties, noting that several prominent figures had already joined its ranks.
He stated, “With the change of the candidate list, there is confusion in the APC. Let them continue to remain in confusion. It is our joy to see that they remain in confusion so that we can take advantage of that and take over power. It is not for us to advise them on how to put their house in order.
“The fact that we have our own strategies, which enabled us to conduct relatively rancour-free primaries, and that we are ensuring the names of successful candidates are forwarded to INEC, means it is not our responsibility to advise the APC on what to do. Instead, we will tell them to continue substituting names at will.
“We are ready to receive anyone who is tired of the APC’s confusion into the PDP, and we will welcome them. You can see the likes of Prof Iyabo Obasanjo, Prof Isa Pantami, and many others. We are waiting to receive those who have been treated unfairly by other political parties. This is a sign that the PDP is indeed going to spring surprises.”
It’s an aberration, mockery of Electoral Act – LP
Similarly, the Labour Party condemned the APC’s move, insisting that candidates who emerge from valid primaries should not be replaced.
The LP National Publicity Secretary, Ken Asogwa, said the party had consistently respected the outcome of its primaries, describing the replacement of duly nominated candidates as an aberration.
He said, “For us in the Labour Party, we did not supplant people who won with people who did not win. We did not, at any time, remove the names of people who won our primaries and replace them with those who did not win. That is why we have continued to show the example of what democracy looks like and how it should be practised in Nigeria.
“If there are political parties that have been doing this, it is an aberration. It makes a mockery of what the Electoral Act says. That is not the way to go.”
Asogwa recalled similar controversies ahead of the 2023 general elections.
“We all witnessed what happened in the build-up to the 2023 elections, where some persons who did not participate in the primary eventually rose to become Senate President, while another person from Yobe eventually made it to the Senate.
“Because there were no repercussions for the people who did this, they got away with it. Even when the people whose tickets were hijacked and given to them eventually went to court, they didn’t come out with anything. So, these are the issues. When certain people commit such infractions and get away with it, other persons are emboldened to do the same thing.”
“If the courts had lived up to expectations by ensuring that those people did not get away with tickets from primaries in which they did not participate, maybe what is happening now would not have happened,” he said.
Also, the African Democratic Congress said the development could trigger internal discontent that may cost the APC dearly in the 2027 general elections.
The opposition party also ruled out substituting candidates who emerged from its primaries, insisting that only the voluntary withdrawal of a candidate would warrant a replacement.
Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the APC’s handling of its candidate selection process had created avoidable resentment within its ranks.
“The crisis and confusion in the APC now are going to be their undoing in the next election. They have left many of their members bitter and aggrieved, but that is their problem,” he said.
PUNCHNEWS