Protest in Ondo, Kwara as APC uploads gov’ship candidates

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has commenced upload of its governorship and House of Assembly candidates onto the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP). Daily Trust reports that the electoral body opened the portal for uploading candidates’ details last Saturday, with the exercise expected to be completed by August 8. The party […]

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has commenced upload of its governorship and House of Assembly candidates onto the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP).

Daily Trust reports that the electoral body opened the portal for uploading candidates’ details last Saturday, with the exercise expected to be completed by August 8.

The party will be uploading the data of 28 governorship candidates and 993 State House of Assembly candidates across the federation within this period.

A reliable source within the ruling party told one of our correspondents on Monday afternoon that the upload process was initiated on Saturday evening by the party’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) department.

This comes even as protests over the alleged substitution of some candidates continue in  states, with aggrieved aspirants threatening a showdown.

The source at the party’s secretariat confirmed notable complaints regarding the primary elections conducted in Kwara, Benue, and Ondo states.

In view of these complaints, he stated that the party leadership established a vetting committee with a mandate to collect and verify all nomination forms from State Chairmen before handing them over to the ICT unit.

Party clears sitting governors, 9 others for upload

Daily Trust learnt that all the governors seeking a second-term mandate have been cleared for upload onto the INEC portal.

They include Governors Dikko Radda (Katsina), Nasir Idris (Kebbi), Umaru Bago (Niger), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), Ahmad Aliyu (Sokoto), Agbu Kefas (Taraba), Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), Dauda Lawal (Zamfara), Uba Sani (Kaduna), and Abba Yusuf (Kano).

Nine first-time governorship flagbearers were also cleared. The source gave their names as Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Ahmed Aliyu Wadada (Nasarawa), Obafemi Hamzat (Lagos), Ogundu Kingsley Chinda (Rivers), Eric Opah (Abia), Solomon Adeola (Ogun), Mustapha Gubio (Borno), Jamilu Gwamna (Gombe), and Baba Malam Wali (Yobe).

The source told Daily Trust that the party is still finalizing the list of House of Assembly candidates in accordance with the reports of its Primary Elections Appeal Committee.

He confirmed that some names will be replaced during the exercise before the final list is uploaded.

Protests in Ondo, Kwara

Daily Trust reports that protests have broken out in some states over the alleged substitution of candidates by the party, with demonstrations being most pronounced in Ondo and Kwara states.

Reports from Ondo State indicate that the party appears headed for another round of internal turmoil as the INEC portal opens.

The APC national leadership has allegedly replaced five of the 26 House of Assembly candidates who initially emerged from the primaries in Ondo State.

One of the most contentious cases involves Akoko South-West Constituency I, where stakeholders allege that the name of Hon. Olugbenga Omole, who won the primary election, is being substituted with that of another aspirant, Raymond Daodu.

The development prompted party leaders and stakeholders in the constituency to stage a protest, warning against what they described as an attempt to subvert the will of party members. The protesters insisted that any effort to replace the rightful winner could generate widespread dissatisfaction within the APC and weaken the party’s chances at the polls.

Speaking during the protest, the Returning Officer for the Akoko South-West Constituency I primary, Hon. Christopher Omolorun, said intelligence reports suggesting a move to substitute Omole’s name necessitated their public outcry. According to Omolorun, Omole secured 4,648 votes during the primary election, while Daodu polled only 921 votes.

“We want Mr. President and the party leadership in Abuja to know that we reject any attempt to impose a candidate on us. Oka people will not accept imposition because the mandate was freely given to Omole,” Omolorun said.

The APC Chairman in Akoko South-West Local Government, Sunday Agbede, also confirmed that stakeholders directed him to submit a petition to the state leadership.

“I have been asked to take their letter to the state chairman because we want peace and we want the issue resolved within the party,” Agbede stated.

Offering a different perspective, political analyst and leader of the Ondo Elders Forum, Chief Demola Ijabiyi, argued that no aspirant can validly claim to be a party candidate until the APC National Working Committee (NWC) concludes the nomination process and certifies the outcome. According to him, declarations made by returning officers at primary venues are merely provisional and remain subject to review and ratification by national leadership.

“If the declaration made at the venue is considered final and conclusive, then the purpose of the party’s appeal committee and the requirement for election committees to submit their returns to the National Working Committee would become meaningless,” Ijabiyi argued.

He maintained that political parties must retain the power to correct irregularities, manipulation, or violations of party guidelines whenever such issues are discovered during post-primary reviews.

Also, reports from Kwara State indicate that the lingering crisis within the state chapter of the party entered a critical phase on Monday as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) opened its Candidate Nomination Portal for the submission of governorship and State House of Assembly candidates for the 2027 general election.

The development comes amid unresolved grievances by the G15 coalition and other aggrieved party stakeholders who have, in recent weeks, rejected the outcome of the APC primaries.

They also accused Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of sidelining key stakeholders and influencing the emergence of candidates for various elective positions in the state.

For the G15 coalition, however, the development has heightened concerns that candidates whose emergence they have consistently challenged could now be formally transmitted to INEC before their grievances are addressed.

Since the conclusion of the APC primaries, the coalition, comprising prominent governorship aspirants, party elders, aspirants and other influential stakeholders, has held a series of consultations, press conferences and meetings to reject the outcome of the exercises and demand fresh intervention from the party’s national leadership.

They said that their agitation is aimed at restoring internal democracy, fairness and inclusiveness within the ruling party.

In one of its communiqués, the coalition declared that the “struggle is not about personalities but about restoring the APC to its core values of justice, inclusion, internal democracy and respect for every member.”

The group also faulted failed reconciliation efforts, insisting that the concerns it raised following the governorship primary were neither addressed nor extended to disputes arising from the emergence of candidates for the State House of Assembly and National Assembly elections.

It further alleged that genuine winners in some constituencies were denied tickets while candidates allegedly backed by the state leadership emerged from the exercises.

But the governor and his supporters have rejected those allegations and maintained that the party’s primaries complied with laid down guidelines.

Despite the sustained agitation and calls on the APC national leadership to intervene, preparations for the nomination process have continued in line with the electoral timetable released by INEC.

When contacted, the Kwara State chapter of the APC said the process of uploading candidates to INEC was being handled by the party’s national leadership.

The Secretary of the party in the state, Alhaji Mustapha Isowo, said the opening of the nomination portal did not directly concern the state chapter because access to the platform rested with the national leadership.

“The question you are asking does not affect the state chapter. It is the national headquarters that can speak on it. The portal is not for us; it is for the national headquarters,” he said.

Asked whether the party had succeeded in reconciling aggrieved stakeholders before the commencement of the nomination process, Isowo said the reconciliation mechanism established by the party was still at work.

“That is why we set up the committee. The committee is still working,” he said.

He added that the state chapter was implementing directives from the party’s national leadership.

Reacting to the development, a political scientist at the University of Ilorin, Dr Mohammed Alada, said the opening of the INEC nomination portal would have little immediate effect on the aggrieved stakeholders because only authorised officials of political parties had access to the platform for uploading candidates.

“The aggrieved groups have no access to the INEC nomination portal. The party machinery controls the process, and once the party leadership agrees on the candidates, those are the names that will be uploaded. The immediate implication is therefore not on the nomination process but on the party’s political fortunes,” he said.

Alada, however, warned that the APC could face significant electoral consequences if the internal crisis remained unresolved before the 2027 general election.

Alia secures 24 APC Assembly tickets, Akume gets 13 in Benue

Governor Hyacinth Alia has strengthened his grip on the All Progressives Congress (APC) structure in Benue State after his loyalists secured 24 of the 37 State House of Assembly nomination tickets, leaving supporters of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, with 13.

The outcome marks the latest chapter in the prolonged leadership tussle between the two APC leaders, whose rivalry resulted in parallel primary elections across the state.

The internal crisis had earlier prompted the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC to overturn the results of some National Assembly primaries in Benue, replacing candidates believed to be loyal to Governor Alia with aspirants backed by the SGF.

The list of Assembly candidates sighted by one of our correspondents showed that Governor Alia’s camp secured the majority of the tickets, with most of the successful candidates coming from Benue south senatorial district (Zone C), followed by Benue North-East (Zone A).

However, the identities of the remaining 13 candidates loyal to the SGF had yet to be seen by our correspondent at the time of filing this report.

APC State Publicity Secretary in the state, Benedict Yawe, told our correspondent on the telephone that the list of the remaining candidates might be in the custody of the SGF’s camp.

Yawe said Governor Alia presented Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nomination forms to the 24 successful Assembly candidates loyal to him during a brief ceremony held at the APC secretariat in Makurdi at the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Akume camp is believed to have secured most of its 13 tickets from Benue North-West senatorial district (Zone B), with a few others spread across Zones A and C.

State Publicity Secretary of the Akume faction of the APC, Morgan Ihomun, confirmed that the camp secured 13 Assembly tickets.

“It was actually about those who won the primary election,” Ihomun said.

He explained that Assembly candidates loyal to Senator Akume received their INEC nomination forms from the SGF, while those aligned with Governor Alia collected theirs from the governor.

In a statement earlier, Yawe urged party members to put aside their differences and work for the victory of the APC in the forthcoming general elections.

Although the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Felix Morka, could not be reached regarding the ongoing upload exercise, he had previously confirmed that the party received over 700 petitions over its primaries across the country.

Morka had stated: “The party received over 700 petitions following the shadow elections held in May. The outcome of the primary appeal committee reports is being closely studied, and its implementation may necessitate the dropping and replacement of some names to ensure justice and party cohesion before the INEC deadline.”