April 26, (THEWILL) — In an obvious attempt to manage the looming mass defections of lawmakers from the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, President Bola Tinubu, the state governors and National Working Committee, NWC, on the platform of the party are synchronising their strategies ahead of its national convention. The strategy is to narrow the exit point for many of the disaffected lawmakers by fixing the convention at a date that may leave potential defectors with no other options than to stay within.
According to the timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, party primaries are to be held between April 26 and May 30, 2026. During the window period, the membership register of all the parties would have become operational, making it difficult for fresh membership registration.
Working on this development, the President, governors and NCW, met on Wednesday and Thursday of last week to harmonise their positions. The President declined to accede to the request by the leadership of the National Assembly to secure automatic return tickets for the party’s sitting lawmaker ahead of the 2027 General Election. He threw the decision to the state governors on the platform of the party.
At a Sallah breakfast event at the Presidential Villa in March, the President had diplomatically rebuffed the plea by House Speaker Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen for automatic ticket for members and asserted the party’s authority on the matter. Attempts by Tajudeen and President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio to reopen the request last week failed, with President Tinubu declaring that state governors have the authority over the selection of candidates in their respective states.
The President, after meeting Akpabio and Tajudeen, then went ahead to meet with the governors after which he authorised the governors to drive the primaries process after a meeting with them on Thursday, April 23, 2024.
Bago said, “We came to thank the President for his magnanimity and his support to the governors and for our party, the APC,” Niger State governor, Mohammed Bago told State House correspondents after the meeting of the governors with the President, “He gave us a matching order on what to do for him, he has given and ceded his executive power to the governors to go ahead and conduct primaries based on the Electoral Act, either a consensus or direct primaries. So, he has reiterated his support for our decision and he has given us a go ahead.”
Almost immediately, the party’s NWC, which also met on the same Thursday, issued a revised 2027 primary timetable. The decision, reached at the party’s 186th National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Abuja on Thursday, signals a deliberate effort to tighten internal processes, minimise disputes and ensure compliance with electoral regulations as political activity gathers momentum ahead of the 2027 general election. Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Durosinmi Meseko, who announced the development, confirmed that the updated schedule has been formally transmitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in line with statutory requirements.
Central to the revised framework is a stricter interpretation of consensus primaries. While the APC retained both direct and consensus options as allowed under the Electoral Act, it introduced a decisive safeguard: unanimity among aspirants is now mandatory. Under this condition, any single aspirant who declines to endorse a consensus arrangement effectively nullifies the process, triggering an automatic shift to direct primaries.
The move is widely seen as a response to past controversies over candidate imposition and an attempt to strengthen internal democracy within the party. The updated timetable outlines a compressed but structured sequence of activities. Sale of nomination forms is scheduled to run from April 25 to May 2, 2026, with submission of completed forms closing on May 4.
Screening of aspirants for State Houses of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate and governorship positions will take place between May 6 and May 8, while presidential aspirants are slated for screening on May 9. Results of the screening exercise will be published on May 11, followed by appeals on May 12 and 13.
Primary elections will then proceed in phases: House of Representatives on May 15, Senate on May 18, State Houses of Assembly on May 20, and governorship primaries on May 21. The presidential primary, now fixed for May 23, will conclude the process.
Post-primary appeal committees are expected to sit immediately after each category of elections, a mechanism aimed at resolving disputes swiftly and preventing escalation. Meseko also addressed speculation suggesting that nomination forms would be restricted to select aspirants, insisting that the process remains open and inclusive.
“Nomination forms for all aspirants seeking offices under the All Progressives Congress are open,” he said, reiterating that all qualified party members are eligible to participate. On regulatory compliance, the APC disclosed that its updated membership register has been submitted to INEC, a move expected to strengthen its legal standing and reduce the risk of technical challenges to its primaries.
In a related development, the NWC approved a separate timetable for ward, local government and state congresses in Zamfara State. Screening for ward executive positions begins on April 28, with ward congresses scheduled for April 30, followed by local government and state congresses, while all appeals are to be concluded by May 3.
The President’s position in alignment with the party’s NWC has deepened fears and among federal lawmakers, particularly those whose relationships with their governors have been strained. Many of the governors recently defected to the party, mostly from the Peoples Democratic Party, had negotiated a 60 per to 40 per cent sharing formula and with the APC and with the President’s directive, they are likely to field their loyalists. Meaning that many incumbent National Assembly members would have to look for other platforms with the electoral timeline.
In states where the governor and lawmaker have been at war, the governor would not hesitate to wield the authority handed to them by the President. A notable example is in Ogun State where Senator Gbenga Daniel of Ogun East and Governor Dapo Abiodun have been having a running battle since August last year, when the state government threatened to demolish the home and other property of the serving governor on the allegations of urban regulatory violations.
On Monday, April 20, 2026, Daniel was reportedly shut out of a stakeholders’ meeting of the Ogun East Senatorial District, a gathering that Governor Abiodun presided over. Abiodun was subsequently endorsed by stakeholders in attendance as Senatorial candidate for the constituency.
In exercising their powers bestowed by the President, the governors are already working with stakeholders to pick their successors In Ogun State, Senate Committee on Appropriations chairman, Senator Adeola Olamilekan, has been picked as consensus governorship candidate.
In Nasarawa State, Senator Aliyu Wadada, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, has secured a consensus endorsement for the governorship and he has been presented to the President by Governor Abdullahim Sule.
In Benue State, where the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, and Governor Hyacinth Alia have been battling over control of the APC structure in the state, the Presidential directive may have strengthened the hands of the governor. However, some lawmakers have made the decision to defect amid the crisis in the state. One of such lawmaker is Deputy Spokesman of the House of Representatives Philip Agbese who defected from the APC to the Labour Party, in March.
After denying reports that his return ticket was at risk, the Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin, has upped the game in his Kano North Senatorial Constituency. He distributed assorted vehicles to Chairmen and Secretaries of the All Progressives Congress(APC) and other beneficiaries in the district.
The vehicles, 47 cars and 282 motorcycles, were given to the beneficiaries at a colourful ceremony held in Kano on Wednesday, April 23, 2026. The Chief of Staff to the Deputy President of the Senate, Professor Muhammad Ibn Abdullahi, who launched the programme, said the initiative is aimed at lifting the beneficiaries out of poverty towards self-reliance.
He also explained that the initiative is part of broader efforts by Senator Barau to tackle unemployment and ensure that constituents benefit from the dividends of democracy. As at April 25, 2023, 36 House of Representatives members have defected from the APC to either the African Democratic Congress, ADC or the PDP.
Felix Ifijeh is a journalist with years of professional reporting experience. Known for his keen news sense, compelling storytelling and commitment to accurate, impactful reporting, he has built a reputation for turning leads into clear, engaging, and well-structured reports that resonate with readers. His work reflects deep newsroom experience and a commitment to accurate, impactful journalism.
