February 08, (THEWILL) — While other parties sort out themselves ahead of the 2027 general election, the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, has rolled out programmes for its national convention on March 27 and 28, 2026. The convention will bring in new members of the party’s National Working Committee.
National Secretary of the APC, Basiru Ajibola, posted on the party’s official X page on Friday a statement announcing the amendment of earlier programmes and activities as well as designated officials.
Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, who had earlier been announced as Chairman of the National Convention Central Committee was replaced with former Katsina State governor, Aminu Bello Masari. The Imo State governor now becomes Treasurer.
“In further consultation with the leadership and national stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Central Coordination Committee for the 2020 National Convention has been reconstituted. Sub-committees of the Central Coordination Committee will be constituted and announced in due course,” Ajibola stated.
Part of the new restructuring also led to the expansion of the membership of the committee from 73 to 90. Under the revised structure, former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, was named Vice Chairman I, while Kwara State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, will serve as Vice Chairman II. Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State remains Secretary of the committee.
The revised 79-member committee includes all state governors, especially new defectors from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP to the APC.
Among them are Umo Bassey Eno of Akwa Ibom, Douye Diri of Bayelsa, Peter Mbah of Enugu State, Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta, Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau, Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, Abba Yusuf of Kano, state and Agbu Kefas of Taraba State.
Other governors, elected on the party’s platform, are Hyacinth Alia of Benue, Babagana Zulum of Borno, Bassey Otu of Cross River, Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi, Monday Okpebholo of Edo and Abiodun Oyebanji of Ekiti, Muhammed Yahaya of Gombe, Umar Namadi of Jigawa, Uba Sani of Kaduna, Dikko Umaru Radda of Katsina, Nasir Idris of Kebbi, Ahmed Usman Ododo of Kogi, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa, Mohammed Umar Bago of Niger, Abiodun Adedapo of Ogun, Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo, Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto.
All former National Chairmen of the party made the list. They are Interim National Chairman, Bisi Akande, former party chairmen Adams Oshiomhole, Abdullahi Adamu and Abdullahi Ganduje. Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohamed Idris Malagi and Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa (retd.)
Also included are the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu. Former Senate Presidents, Anyim Pius Anyim, Ken Nnamani and Ahmed Lawan were added. Similarly, ex-Speakers of the House of Representatives Aminu Bello Masari, Patricia Etteh, Dimeji Bankole, Yakubu Dogara, Femi Gbajabiamila were included. Majority Leader, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele made the list.
As part of the preparation for the national convention and nationwide congresses, the party also released an adjusted timetable for its 2026 political activities. It said, “The Expression of Interest Form and the Nomination Form will be available for purchase and collection at the Directorate of Organisation, 2nd Floor, APC National Secretariat, No. 40 Blantyre Street, Wuse 2, Abuja.”
According to the party, only forms obtained from the Directorate of Organisation at its national secretariat will be considered valid for the ongoing processes. According to the schedule, purchase and submission of forms for ward and local government area congresses are scheduled to take place between February 4 and February 9, 2026.
It disclosed that screening committees for ward and LGA positions will be inaugurated on February 10, with screening of aspirants to be held from February 11 to February 13.
Ward congresses are fixed for Wednesday, February 18, 2026, while appeals arising from the ward congresses will be heard on February 19. LGA congresses, including the election of three delegates, one of whom must be female, to the national convention, will be held on February 20, with appeals scheduled for February 21.
At the state level, the purchase of forms for state executive positions will commence earlier, from February 23 to February 27, 2025. Screening and appeals for state executives are slated for late February and early March 2026, while state congresses will be held on Saturday, March 7, 2026.
The timetable stated that appeals from state congresses will be entertained between March 9 and March 11, while the party will then move to the zonal level, with the purchase and submission of forms for zonal congresses and the national convention scheduled for March 12 to March 17, 2026.
Following this schedule, zonal congresses will be inaugurated on March 18, followed by the screening of aspirants on March 19 and 20. Zonal congresses across the six geopolitical zones will take place on Saturday, March 21, 2026.
The designated zonal offices are Ibadan for the South West, Enugu for the South East, Rivers/Cross River for the South South, Kaduna for the North West, Gombe/Bauchi for the North East, and Nasarawa for the North Central., while appeals arising from the zonal congresses will be heard on March 23.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has been overwhelmingly endorsed by all the organs and big wigs of the party, including other relevant stakeholders even though the position of the Vice-President Kashim Shettima has been the subject of speculation, both by his members and officials of the party in the Northeast zone until the party had to officially issue a statement to warm members to desist from further discussion of the matter.
At a point, the party stated that defection did not translate into automatic, further fuelling speculation that many of the governors who defected to the party may have to contest for the position at primaries. Ditto for Senators and Reps who defected to the party. Still, the released time-table of activities means the party has begun the required housekeeping and planning ahead of the 2027 general polls.
Some members have reacted to the new development by urging the party to be more organised in its programming. A member identified as I. B. Faruk, for instance, urged the APC party to be more organised in the administration: “I guess there was an outrage in the previous list. Well, I really expect the party to be more organised going forward, first it was the media team list that was published and withdrawn, and now it’s the convention committee. Our party shouldn’t be doing this,” he said.
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