APC primaries most competitive in history, says national chair

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, has said the party’s ongoing nationwide primaries ahead of the 2027 general elections are the most competitive in Nigeria’s political history. Yilwatda said the sheer volume of aspirants jostling for a handful of elective positions across the country was proof of the ruling party’s deep penetration into every community in Nigeria. The national chairman made the declaration on Wednesday evening while speaking with journalists outside President Bola Tinubu’s Ikoyi, Lagos residence, where he had gone to brief the President on the state of the primaries and receive direction on the way forward. He explained, “The assessment is very simple. You can see how competitive our party has turned out to be. In just simple demand and supply, we have a few positions, and we have thousands of people who have come to vie for these positions across the country, the most competitive ever in the history of Nigeria. “It shows how APC has penetrated all communities in Nigeria, and how it is accepted by Nigerians, and how every facet of Nigeria wants to be involved in APC. “All leaders, people who want to become leaders in Nigeria, have seen APC as the first choice.” He thanked Nigerians for their support and acceptance of the party, and praised aspirants for what he described as a “disciplined approach” that had made the process “near rancour-free, very organised” with “little complaints.” Yilwatda disclosed that President Tinubu was impressed with two aspects of the primaries in particular: the logistical coordination deployed across states and the reduced number of violent incidents compared to previous exercises. “This is the first time we’re deploying nationwide direct primaries, almost as if it is a general election in terms of resources. We printed result sheets, we did the logistical preparation, everything, and the President was very impressed with the logistics we deployed across the country. “He has also been very impressed with the reduced number of incidents we have across the country. “We’ve not had so much conflict and crisis across communities and at the ward level down to the election processes, and he’s happy with what we’re doing,” he said. Yilwatda added that Tinubu had provided critical moral and institutional backing for the National Working Committee to enforce the party’s regulations to the letter. According to him, “Mr President has given backing to the National Working Committee to succeed, including the moral backing. “He has backed everything we have put in place to ensure we enforce the party’s regulations to the letter.” Pressed on reports that some aspirants had resisted consensus arrangements and that complaints were mounting in several states, Yilwatda said the party’s guidelines were clear and had been followed in all cases. • Natasha emerges PDP senatorial candidate in Kogi Central • Kaduna lawmakers promise development after clinching APC re-election tickets • Ondo APC aspirant kicks, seeks fresh primary He argued, “Our guidelines are very clear, our guidelines on consensus are clear, and on direct primaries are also clear. “Where consensus doesn’t work, you go for direct primaries, and we’ve all trended to that, and that’s what people are doing across the states.” He explained that the consensus process required aspirants to sign formal consent forms indicating they had stepped down voluntarily before the process could be concluded. “There’s no state where people have complained that they wanted direct primaries and were given compulsory consensus, because there’s a consensus form that we give, and based on that, you must sign off on the consensus form you agreed to own a consensus candidate before the process takes place, and that has been followed in the guidelines,” he said. On the question of post-primary grievances, Yilwatda said the party had established internal conflict resolution mechanisms and was prepared for the inevitable fallout. He explained, “Definitely, we’re going to have some aggrieved party members after this primary election. “We have the Presidential Conflict Resolution Committee and the Party Conflict Resolution Committee, and the party itself has been working to ensure that we reduce crises as much as we can. “If you lose an election, it’s not the end of the world, the emotions, the sentiments, the fact that you feel you’re the best and then suddenly you’re not the one, the sentiments and ill feelings are sometimes there, but we show that we have an early healing process so that we can work on the campaign process and emerge victorious across the country in 2027.” The APC’s staggered primaries, designed to produce candidates for every elective office ahead of the 2027 general elections, kicked off on May 15, 2026, with House of Representatives primaries, followed by Senate primaries on May 18 and State House of Assembly primaries on May 20. Governorship primaries are scheduled for today (Thursday), with the presidential primary on May 23. Participating are 30 APC governors, 88 senators, 242 House of Representatives members and thousands of other aspirants nationwide. However, confusion has trailed aspects of the exercise as aspirants complained that the party had not released the final list of cleared aspirants in areas where consensus arrangements failed, fuelling speculation over possible disqualifications. The exercise has sparked fierce internal debate over the mode of primaries, with APC governors pushing for indirect primaries while the Yilwatda-led NWC insisted on direct primaries. Yilwatda, who assumed office as APC national chairman on July 24, 2025, and was re-elected at the party’s convention in March 2026, succeeded Umar Ganduje.