May 26, (THEWILL) – As elected, appointed officials and members of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, continue to endorse President Bola Tinubu as sole candidate of the party in the 2027 General Election, a chieftain and presidential aspirant on the party’s platform in 2019, knocks have continued to trail the decision.
Last week, the Progressives Governors Forum led by Governor Hope Uzondinma of Imo State endorsed the President as the sole candidate of the party for the 2027 election. Similarly, elected lawmakers on the platform of the party have endorsed the President. The party’s National Working Committee, NWC, publicly joined the bandwagon during a conference organised to celebrate the party and the government’s second anniversary in Abuja. Surprisingly, three Senators on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, namely Senator Kamarudeen Lere Oyewumi (Osun West), Senator Olubiyi Fadeyi Ajagunla (Osun Central), and Senator Francis Adenigba Fadahunsi (Osun East) declared their full support for President Tinubu’s re-election bid.
However, a chieftain of the party and 2023 presidential aspirant, Chief Charles Udeogaranya rejected the idea of an automatic ticket for the President.
According to him, the endorsement of President Bola Tinubu by the party leadership and APC governors, including the National Assembly lawmakers at the All Progressives Congress, APC National Summit in Abuja was an exercise in futility.
According to him, there is no preferential treatment or any room for an automatic ticket for any of the presidential aspirants.
Describing the consensus to endorse the President as undemocratic and a mockery of the APC, Udeogaranya said that he would contest for the Nigerian Presidency on the platform of the party in 2027.
He said, “While I deeply and respectfully appreciate my fellow All Progressives Congress, APC members on their Abuja Summit, May I also respectfully inform that this democracy birthed by Thomas Jefferson in his declaration of the United States Independence in 1776, entrenched by Abraham Lincoln at his speech in Gettysburg 1863 and globally expressed by Martin Luther King jnr in his Washington 1963 speech, will not fail in Nigeria, come 2027.
“There is no room for consensus in continuous hunger and chronic poverty in Nigeria, no room for consensus in economic quagmire, no room for consensus on insecurity in Nigeria, no room for consensus on nepotism in Nigeria, no room for consensus on cluelessness in Nigeria and no room on me, I and myself in the leadership of Nigeria.”
He said he was moved by the idea to bring about a better Nigeria anchored on creativity, nationalism and prosperity for all Nigerians.
Similarly, the Coalition of United Political Parties has described the Thursday endorsement of President Tinubu as the sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election by the Forum of All Progressives Congress Governors as a desperate bid for power and a panic measure.
Its National Secretary, Peter Ameh, stated that the adoption had raised serious concerns among Nigerians.
“The recent motion at the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Summit, where the Governor of Imo State and Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum moved for President Bola Tinubu to be adopted as the sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election, seconded by Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, has raised significant concerns among Nigerians.
“This unprecedented move, just two years into President Tinubu’s term, signals deep unease within the APC camp amid widespread public dissatisfaction with the harsh economic realities facing the nation,” he said.
According to Ameh, the adoption of Tinubu as the sole candidate for 2027 does not reflect the will of the Nigerian people, whose votes will ultimately determine the outcome of the election.
He said the decision by APC elected officials appeared to stem from fear of rejection by the electorate, who he said were grappling with severe economic challenges.
“Nigerians across the country view this move as a troubling indication of the APC’s disconnect from the masses and an attempt to undermine the democratic process,” he said.
In the same vein, ex-National Vice Chairman, Northwest of the APC, Salihu Lukman, said the governing party is gradually shedding its founding ideals of progressives toward a structure that resembles centralised control.
Lukman, who spoke on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief, last Friday, lamented that internal contests had been abandoned in favour of automatic adoptions.
While reflecting on his role in the formation of the APC, he expressed disappointment in the party’s current direction, claiming it had drifted from its founding ideals.
“The APC has moved from a party envisioned to be progressive to almost a monarchy. As it is now, the APC mantra is that there will be no internal contest in 2027 — the President is adopted. All their governors are adopted. Legislators are also adopted,” he added.
According to him, political organisations that do not uphold their constitutions or hold regular internal meetings cannot be considered true parties.
“Any party whose elected representatives are not accountable is not a party in the classical sense,” he said.
In his reaction to the knocks trailing the endorsements, the Deputy National Organising Committee, Nze Chidi Duru, said that the ruling party did the right thing.
“The President has a right of first refusal. If he, however, declines the offer to run for a second term in office, we can then be talking about a primary,” he said.
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