THE All Progressives Congress completed its 2026 primaries across Nigeria last week, and what was supposed to be an exercise in internal democracy has turned into something far more troubling. Across dozens of states, party members who spent months preparing, consulting, and mobilising are now staring at results they say do not reflect anything that happened on election day. The mood inside the ruling party is anything but celebratory.
The week-long primary election exercise, which the party had hoped would strengthen unity ahead of the 2027 elections, instead exposed deep divisions, with allegations of ghost elections, inflated vote figures, candidate imposition, and parallel results dominating the exercise from start to finish. Many aspirants who participated came out not with tickets, but with petitions.
The scale of grievances is striking. Over 50 National Assembly members lost their APC tickets, signalling major political realignments before the 2027 elections. These are not unknown figures. They are ranking lawmakers, sitting senators, and principal officers who had served the party for years. Among the Senate losses were a Delta North senator, a Kogi East lawmaker, and a Gombe Central senator who had represented his district for four consecutive terms. For men of their standing to be swept aside in this manner raised immediate questions about how the process was actually conducted.
The stories coming from across the country tell a consistent picture. In some states, the venue of the exercise was not even known to aspirants. In others, conflicting results were being peddled by various aspirants, while there were reported cases of violence in some constituencies. In Kwara State, an aspirant for the House of Representatives ticket formally rejected the outcome of the primary election held on May 16, describing the exercise as invalid, compromised, and contrary to the principles of internal democracy, maintaining that no valid primary election was conducted across the wards of his federal constituency on the said date.
The situation in Lagos, a state considered the heartbeat of APC’s political machine, was particularly alarming. Several aspirants openly protested the outcome of the House of Representatives and State Assembly primaries, alleging manipulation of delegate lists and imposition of candidates loyal to the political establishment. The crises were particularly pronounced in parts of Kosofe, Ikeja, and other constituencies where violence and disruptions reportedly marred the process. Aggrieved aspirants and party members subsequently petitioned President Bola Tinubu over alleged irregularities, warning that the situation could destabilise the party if not urgently addressed.
In Ogun State, the party took the unusual step of withholding results altogether. The primary election committee said it would not rush to confirm winners until all petitions and disputes linked to the primaries had been resolved, noting that some aspirants alleged irregularities and were demanding a review of results in certain constituencies. The fact that results had to be paused in this manner speaks to just how contested the exercise had become.
Some of the vote figures that emerged from certain states strained credulity entirely. In one South-East governorship primary, a sitting governor polled over 230,000 votes against a former governor who received barely above a thousand. Similar lopsided figures appeared in a North-Central senatorial contest, where a former governor pulled tens of thousands of votes in what was supposed to be a competitive primary. Numbers like these, in a party primary, are difficult to explain to anyone paying attention.
In Bauchi State, the frustration crossed from protest into resignation. Many aggrieved members alleged that no direct primaries were conducted in the state, insisting the process was marred by predetermined results, the outright allocation of votes, and non-compliance with the guidelines for the conduct of the primaries. Some chieftains formally withdrew their membership from the party entirely.
The broader question now hanging over the APC is not just about who won which ticket. It is about whether a party can truly be trusted to govern a country fairly when it cannot govern its own internal processes with integrity. Reports of violence, candidate imposition, manipulation of delegate lists, vote-buying, intimidation, and lack of transparency have left many Nigerians questioning whether political actors truly understand the essence of democracy beyond the pursuit of power.
There is also a structural trap now facing many of the aggrieved members. The Electoral Act 2026 closed the door to party-switching after primaries, trapping aggrieved aspirants inside a process they believe was rigged against them. In previous election cycles, a dissatisfied member could exit and seek a platform elsewhere. That door is now legally shut, which means internal tensions have nowhere to go except deeper into the party’s fabric.
Party stakeholders in several states had warned ahead of the primaries that attempts to impose candidates could trigger defections, anti-party activities, and deepen internal divisions. Those warnings went largely unheeded, and the consequences are now playing out in real time.
The APC remains Nigeria’s dominant political force, controlling the presidency, most state governments, and the National Assembly. Sheer size and incumbency power can paper over internal cracks for a time. The 2027 elections, however, will test whether a party that could not trust its own members during its primaries can still count on those same members when it matters most. Growing grievances from aggrieved aspirants remain a direct threat to party cohesion, especially if they are not properly pacified before campaigns begin in earnest.
A party’s primary is not just a selection process. It is a statement of values. When the process is seen as rigged, the statement it makes is one that voters eventually remember.
- West is a seasoned journalist and development practitioner with over a decade of experience in media, human rights advocacy, and NGO leadership. Her syndicated column, The Wednesday Lens, is published every Wednesday in News Point Nigeria newspaper. She can be reached at bomawest111@gmail.com.