The All Progressives Congress (APC) has submitted a revised list of National Assembly candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), removing several aspirants who initially emerged victorious during the party’s primary elections.
Among those excluded from the final list are former Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam, former House of Representatives member Gbenga Elegbeleye, five other senatorial aspirants and 19 House of Representatives candidates across several states.
The changes come as political parties race to meet INEC’s deadline for submitting candidates for the 2027 general elections.
Appeal committee review led to changes
In a letter addressed to INEC, jointly signed by APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda and National Secretary Ajibola Basiru, the party explained that the revisions followed recommendations from its Primary Election Appeal Committee.
The letter, titled Forwarding of approved list of senatorial and House of Representatives candidates, stated that the National Working Committee (NWC) reviewed the committee’s findings before approving the final list.
“We write to formally forward the attached list of the party’s candidates for the affected senatorial and House of Representatives constituencies arising from the report of the Primary Election Appeal Committee.
“Following the determination of appeals from the recently concluded primary elections, the reports of the Appeal Committee were reviewed and subsequently considered and approved by the party’s NWC as its final position on the affected constituencies.”
According to the revised document submitted to INEC, the affected constituencies are spread across Abia, Benue, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Ondo and Taraba states.
Top APC leaders make final list
While some aspirants were removed, several prominent APC figures successfully secured places on the party’s final list.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, Senate Chief Whip Mohammed Monguno and former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole all received their Candidate Affidavit Forms (EC9).
The party also cleared four serving governors to contest Senate seats. They include AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara), Hope Uzodimma (Imo), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa) and Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe).
Former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello also secured the APC ticket for Kogi Central Senatorial District and is among the party’s 109 senatorial candidates.
For the House of Representatives, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, Mudashiru Obasa and James Faleke also made the final list.
APC focuses on meeting INEC deadline
APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka disclosed that the party received more than 700 petitions from aggrieved members during the primary process.
Despite the complaints, he said the party’s immediate priority is ensuring that all approved candidates complete the required nomination documents before INEC’s deadline.
“They are to complete and return the forms to the party for upload to the INEC portal, so, making the list public is not our priority now.
“Although we will eventually release the list, our immediate priority is to ensure that our candidates complete their forms and meet INEC’S deadline.
“This is more important to us than the public release of the candidates’ list. Those who are our candidates have, by now, received their forms. They already know themselves, there is no tension about that,” Morka said.
Political parties have until July 10 to upload the names and particulars of their presidential and National Assembly candidates through INEC’s Candidate Nomination Portal in accordance with the Electoral Act 2022.
Sources: Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
