The All Progressives Congress (APC) has concluded the list of candidates for the 2027 general elections and ruled out any review of its recently concluded primaries despite petitions and protests by aggrieved aspirants.
Punch’s findings showed that the ruling party had completed work on the results sent to its national secretariat and was set to upload the names of successful candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal.
The development effectively closes the door to fresh appeals and calls for fresh primaries by members who alleged manipulation and imposition during the exercise.
The APC, according to a principal official of the party and another member of the National Working Committee (NWC), said it had not altered nor was it considering reviewing the results of the primaries.
“We are not looking back at the results of the primaries,” said the principal official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The time for primaries and appeals is long gone. Waiting for the code to upload the primaries winners results.
All was settled. We do not know what review they are talking about.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (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.
Lawmakers forfeit tickets
No fewer than 54 serving federal lawmakers, including ranking senators and members of the House of Representatives failed to secure return tickets during the APC primaries held between May 16 and 18.
Many disgruntled aspirants, especially those who lost out in Lagos, Delta, Zamfara, Kogi, Rivers, Plateau and Osun states, have filed petitions, threatened to take legal action and called for fresh primaries.
The APC chieftain was asked about reports submitted by the party’s primary election appeal panels and the APC chieftain said the appeals did not significantly change the outcome of the primaries.
“From what I have seen, the appeal reports didn’t change any of the primary results in any significant way because a lot of the petitions were found to be frivolous,” he said.
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 resign properly from the PDP before joining the APC. Is that a basis for challenging our primaries? Those are frivolous issues that people brought up in their petitions.”
INEC Code awaits party
After the primaries, the party official said that most constituencies did not have appeals.
“There are 109 senatorial districts and 360 House of Representatives constituencies, there are thousands of House of Assembly seats,” he added. I can tell you that in the majority of these constituencies there is no appeal.
“So where does the main review report originate? The results to be announced might not differ from what is already known.”
