The All Progressives Congress has ruled out further review of the results of its recently concluded primary elections, despite petitions and protests from aggrieved aspirants across the country.
Party officials disclosed that the APC had finalised its list of candidates for the 2027 general elections and was preparing to submit the names of successful aspirants to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
A senior party official said the periods provided for the conduct of primaries and consideration of appeals had expired, adding that the party was awaiting access codes from INEC to upload the candidates’ details to its nomination portal.
INEC is expected to release the portal access codes on June 26, while July 11 has been fixed as the deadline for political parties to submit the particulars of their candidates for the elections.
The APC primaries, held between May 16 and 18, produced several unexpected outcomes, with at least 54 serving federal lawmakers failing to secure return tickets.
The exercise also generated disputes in Lagos, Delta, Zamfara, Kogi, Rivers, Plateau and Osun states, where some aspirants accused party officials of manipulation and the imposition of preferred candidates.
Several affected aspirants submitted petitions, demanded fresh primaries and threatened legal action over the conduct and outcome of the exercise.
However, an APC official said the reports submitted by the party’s appeal panels did not produce significant changes because many of the petitions lacked sufficient grounds.
According to the official, some complaints centred on zoning, clearance and the membership status of aspirants who recently defected from other political parties.
One of the major petitions reportedly came from the senator representing Delta North, Ned Nwoko, who challenged the emergence of former Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as the party’s senatorial candidate.
Nwoko reportedly argued that Okowa had not properly resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party before joining the APC.
In Rivers State, some aspirants also challenged the emergence of Kingsley Chinda as the APC governorship candidate. Chinda was the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives when he participated in the primary.
The APC official maintained that an aspirant’s appearance in the party’s membership register was sufficient proof of membership, describing the determination of party membership as an internal affair.
Another member of the APC National Working Committee dismissed reports that President Bola Tinubu had intervened to demand a review of the primary election results.
The official said neither the President nor any representative of the Presidency had contacted the party’s national leadership over the issue.
He added that the candidates who emerged from the controversial Lagos primaries had been confirmed and that the results would not be changed.
The official estimated that fewer than two per cent of the petitions submitted by aggrieved aspirants succeeded.
APC National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, declined to discuss the matter publicly, describing it as an internal party affair. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, also did not respond to requests for comment.
Some aggrieved aspirants, however, expressed hope that President Tinubu would intervene before the names of the candidates were submitted to INEC.
They warned that unresolved disputes could weaken the party ahead of the 2027 elections, trigger defections and encourage dissatisfied members to support opposition candidates or remain inactive during the polls.
