APC presidential primaries hold across 8,809 wards

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By Omeiza Ajayi, ABUJA

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Saturday’s presidential primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC will hold simultaneously across all 8,809 wards in the country as the party moves to pick its 2027 presidential candidate in what appears a coronation of the incumbent.

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Under the procedure outlined in a notice signed by the party’s National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, every registered APC member in each of the 8,809 wards will be eligible to cast a vote for the presidential aspirant of their choice — a departure from the delegate-based model that has historically concentrated the power of nomination in the hands of a few party officials and delegates.

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The primary is scheduled to hold on May 23, 2026, with results from each ward to be collated at the local government level by officers appointed jointly by the State Coordinator and the National Working Committee NWC.

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State Coordinators and Collation Officers will then aggregate results from all local governments in their states and present them to the Presidential Primary Election Committee in Abuja on the same day.

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The scale of the exercise makes it one of the most expansive intra-party ballots the APC has conducted, requiring the simultaneous deployment of party machinery across hundreds of local governments and thousands of wards in 36 states and the FCT.

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To manage the process, the party constituted a seven-member Presidential Primary Election Committee headed by a former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, with Sen. Ken Nnamani, Sen. Victor Udo Udoma, H.E. Otunba Grace Titi Laoye-Ponle, Rev. Jolly Nyame, and Idris Wada as members, and Mr. Sanusi Musa as Secretary.

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A Presidential Primary Election Appeal Committee was also set up, with Hon. Aminu Masari, as Chairman, Mr. Samuel Piwuna as Secretary, and Hon. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh as member.

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Thirty-seven Coordinators and Collation Officers were deployed across the states and the FCT. The list includes prominent party figures serving as coordinators in their states — among them Sen. Hope Uzodimma, for Imo State; Alh. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, for Kwara State; Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum for Borno State; Sen. Bassey Otu for Cross River State; Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu for Lagos State; Sen. Monday Okpebholo for Edo State; Sen. Uba Sani for Kaduna State; Sir Siminalaji Fubara for Rivers State; Hon. Yakubu Dogara for Bauchi State; Hon. Benjamin Kalu for Abia State; and Sen. Phillip Aduda for the FCT, among others.

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