The major fallout of the Saturday, May 16, All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries for House of Representatives aspirants, is the gradual build-up of anger among some members of the party across the country. Affected aspirants and chieftains who were elbowed out or browbeaten in the contest are crying blue murder, raising fears of imminent implosion in the party.
By Emeka Alex Duru
The major fallout of the Saturday, May 16, All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries for House of Representatives aspirants, is the gradual build-up of anger among some members of the party across the country. Affected aspirants and chieftains who were elbowed out or browbeaten in the contest are crying blue murder, raising fears of imminent implosion in the party.
The Saturday primary was in line with the guidelines by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to political parties ahead the 2027 polls. INEC had in its timetable for the elections listed schedules for the conduct of primaries, nomination of candidates by political parties and other activities. According to the schedule, conduct of party primaries, including resolution of disputes arising from primaries, will commence on April 23, 2026 and end on May 30, 2026. The presidential election is slated to take place on January 16, while the governorship and state assembly elections will be held on February 6, 2027.
Parties go for primaries
Following the template, political parties have commenced sales of forms and primaries for nomination of candidates. APC presidential nomination form goes for N100 million, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) sells for N90 million, while the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), pegged its presidential form at N60 million. It was equally based on the INEC directive that the APC held the House of Representatives primaries on Saturday.
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Until the current dispensation, nominations in Nigeria’s political parties had been defined by two legally recognised modes: direct and indirect primaries. The Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) allowed parties to choose direct, indirect, or consensus, but the latest Section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2026, prescribes only direct and consensus mode of primary election for the nomination of candidates for elections by political parties.
The direct primary requires all card-carrying members at all levels to nominate candidates, rather than vote through delegates. The 2026 Electoral Act empowers political parties to determine their procedures for the direct primaries. APC is adopting both models in some instances.
For the consensus arrangement, the Act prescribes strict conditions for validating the procedure. One of the conditions is that only cleared aspirants may participate, while the others must voluntarily withdraw from the contest. Second, each aspirant must endorse one of the remaining aspirants as the consensus candidate. Third, the consensus candidate must be ratified at a special convention or nomination congress held at designated centres across the national, state, senatorial, federal, and state constituency levels. All three conditions must be fulfilled before INEC will recognise any consensus candidate. Where one of the aspirants declines to withdraw, the party must conduct a direct primary.
Aspirants cry out, allege manipulation
Experiences have shown that the consensus arrangement is undemocratic and prone to dictatorship and intimidation in the party. In many states, the APC consensus is not resonating with members. In Katsina State, it led to some defections from the APC to African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In Kaduna State, the story is the same as well as in Imo State and Ebonyi states. Former minister, Isa Pantami and former Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State are some of the victims of the current consensus arrangement of the APC.
The direct primary is not even better. Apart from being expensive to run, the possibility of every member of a party participating in it, has been difficult to attain. The mode is therefore not as democratic as stated. Aspirants on the platform of the APC who felt shortchanged in the selection process, have therefore been crying out. Among these are aspirants who invested heavily, in some cases, on expression of interest and nomination forms but ended up being screened out, disqualified or defeated through processes they alleged, were compromised. At the last count, over 150 aspirants across the country have been screened out of the primary processes. Some others have been suspended by the party for daring to seek legal redress against what they described as the imposition of candidates.
APC Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda threatens aspirants
As if the exclusion of the aspirants was not enough, the national chairman of the party, Nentawe Yilwatda, responded to their grief with a combination of ineffectual appeal and veiled threat. “In every democratic contest, only one person will eventually emerge victorious. What is important is the spirit with which the process is approached. I urge all aspirants to display maturity, patriotism and good sportsmanship by embracing the outcome of the primaries in the overall interest of the party and our democracy”, he said.
The stance by the APC chair did not resonate with the aggrieved who felt that they were chiseled out of the contest in undemocratic manner. TheNiche learned on good authority that due to the perceived highhandedness and manipulations that characterised the primaries, the affected aspirants are feeling alienated and thinking of ways to hit back at the party. Many were said to have toyed with the idea of exiting from the party. Unfortunately for such aggrieved members, the amended Electoral Act, has effectively sealed their hopes of defection.
2026 Electoral Act blocks defection of members
Under the amended Section 77 of the Electoral Act 2026, any individual who knowingly maintains membership of two political parties simultaneously forfeits recognition as a valid member of either party, pending regularization in accordance with the Act’s provisions. More critically, defection now attracts a penalty of a two-year custodial sentence, a fine of N10 million, or both. For aspirants who previously regarded cross-party movement as a legitimate political option, this provision has slammed the door against them.
The next option is for the disgruntled members to remain in the party and work against it, pending time the defection strategies are perfected. The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was in such odious situation before it began to go down. At its March 24, 2012, National Convention of PDP in Abuja, major positions were parceled out to favoured candidates of the then President Goodluck Jonathan in a consensus arrangement that was considered highly undemocratic.
Incidentally, while preparations for the convention peaked, the party hierarchy had sold impressions of a party that had exited from its past that was characterised by intrigues and imposition politics. With the advertisement of the new dawn, there were hopes that internal democracy had returned in the party.
Like PDP, like APC?
Hopes of a reformed party were however dashed when few hours to the convention, words filtered out that Bamanga Tukur, Aso Rock candidate and erstwhile governor of defunct Gongola State, had been selected as National Chairman of the party. His position was merely affirmed at the convention ground.
PDP never recovered from the bad blood that trailed that exercise. Subsequent developments saw the then governors of Sokoto (Aliyu Wamakko), Rivers (Rotimi Amaechi), Adamawa (Murtala Nyako), Kwara (Abdulfatah Ahmed) and Kano (Rabiu Kwankwaso), walking out of the party. The governors and other chieftains of the party, constituted the nPDP that flowed into the APC and boosted its chances in 2015 polls.
Analysts fear that the APC has been affected by similar arrogance of power as the PDP. This apprehension gains weight considering that even with its consecutive victories at general elections since 2015, critics of the ruling APC, have always predicted a matter of time for the party to go into shreds. For these critics, though APC had in 2015 accessed power on the crest of blistering media hype and exaggerated claim to progressive politics, leaders of the party have proven to be mere power-seeking politicians, interested more in office than service delivery. Even the party structure is feeble and currently built around President Bola Tinubu, who has the final say in its affairs. The fact of the APC not having a functional Board of Trustees (BoT), is an indication of the weak foundation on which the party is hoisted. Without such a strategic body, any crisis in the party may be difficult to be managed. Perhaps, APC is coming to that point.
