APC Rejects Review Of Primaries, Finalises 2027 Candidates

APC Rejects Review Of Primaries, Finalises 2027 Candidates
Party ruled out any review of its primary results.
Aggrieved aspirants’ petitions failed to alter outcomes.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has concluded the process of finalising its list of candidates for the 2027 general elections, ruling out any review of the results of its recently concluded primaries despite protests and petitions from aggrieved aspirants.

Party sources disclosed that the ruling party had completed work on the results submitted to its national secretariat and was preparing to upload the names of successful candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the move effectively closes the door on fresh appeals and calls for the conduct of new primaries by party members who alleged irregularities, manipulation and imposition of candidates during the exercise.

A principal party official and a member of the National Working Committee (NWC), who spoke separately on the development, maintained that the APC had no plans to alter the outcome of the primaries.

“We are not reviewing the results of the primaries. The timeline for primaries and appeals has already elapsed. We are waiting for the code to upload the results of the winners of the primaries.

“Everything has been concluded. We don’t know anything about the review they are talking about,” one of the officials said.

INEC has fixed June 26 for the release of access codes to its nomination portal, while July 11 remains the deadline for political parties to submit the particulars of their candidates for the 2027 elections.

The primaries, conducted between May 16 and 18, saw no fewer than 54 serving federal lawmakers, including senior senators and members of the House of Representatives, lose their bids for return tickets.

Following the exercise, several aspirants from states including Lagos, Delta, Zamfara, Kogi, Rivers, Plateau and Osun submitted petitions, threatened legal action and demanded fresh primaries.

However, party officials said reports from the primary election appeal panels did not produce significant changes to the results.

“From what I have seen, the appeal reports didn’t make any significant changes to the primary results because a lot of the petitions were found to be frivolous,” the APC chieftain stated.

He explained that many complaints centred on issues such as zoning arrangements and party membership disputes, matters he described as pre-primary concerns rather than valid grounds for overturning election outcomes.

According to him, the overwhelming majority of the party’s constituencies recorded no disputes after the primaries.

“There are 109 senatorial districts and 360 House of Representatives constituencies, with thousands of House of Assembly seats. I can tell you that there is no appeal in the majority of these constituencies.

“So, where is the primary review report coming from? The results to be announced may not be different from what has already been known,” he added.

The APC leadership is now awaiting INEC’s release of portal access codes to formally complete the submission process for its candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.