APC Rejects Calls to Review 2027 Primary Election Results

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has concluded the list of candidates for the 2027 general elections and refused to review its just concluded primaries, notwithstanding the petitions and protests by aggrieved aspirants.

Punch’s findings revealed that the ruling party had completed work on the results sent to its national secretariat and was prepared to upload the names of successful candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal.

The development effectively slammed the door to further appeals and calls for fresh primaries by members who had 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 analyzing the results of the primaries in reverse,” the chief official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The time for primaries and appeals is long gone. Waiting for the code to upload the results of the primaries winners.

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.

Tickets for lawmakers
At least 54 serving federal lawmakers, including ranking senators and members of the House of Representatives, failed to get return tickets during the APC primaries held from May 16 to 18.

Many aggrieved aspirants, particularly those who were left out in Lagos, Delta, Zamfara, Kogi, Rivers, Plateau and Osun states, have petitioned, 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’ve seen, the appeal reports didn’t change any of the primary results significantly because a lot of the petitions were found to be frivolous,” he said.

But any well made appeal would have been looked at. Some of the appeals are about zoning matters that are pre-primary issues.

“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 petty 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.

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

‘And where does the main review report come from? The results to be announced might not differ from what is already known.”