Why APC ditched Suswam, 25 NASS candidates

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***Suswam was sacrificed to please Akume —Sources

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***Party moves to resolve tickets crises

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By Clifford Ndujihe and Omeiza Ajayi

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APART from the report of the Primary Election Appeal Committee, Vanguard gathered, yesterday, ‘concrete’ reasons the National Working Committee, NWC, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, dropped former Benue State governor, Senator Gabriel Suswam; former Ondo State House of Representatives member, Gbenga Elegbeleye and 23 other National Assembly candidates.

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Five senatorial candidates and 19 House of Representatives candidates, who had emerged victorious in the party’s primary elections held in May were also dropped and replaced in the final lists. The states affected include Kogi, Abia, Benue, Taraba, Ondo, Niger, Kwara, Kaduna and Ebonyi.

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The lists were forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, via a letter signed by both APC National Chairman and National Secretary, Nentawe Yilwatda and Ajibola Basiru, respectively.

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The party said the new list was on account of the report of the Primary Election Appeal Committee.

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Titled, “Forwarding of approved list of senatorial and House of Representatives candidates,” the APC letter to INEC read: “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.

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“Following determination of appeals from the recently concluded primary elections, the reports of the Appeal Committee were reviewed and subsequently considered and approved by the NWC of the APC as the party’s final position on the affected constituencies.

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“In accordance with the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) and INEC’s regulations and guidelines, we hereby transmit the enclosed list of approved candidates for seven senatorial districts and 19 House of Representatives constituencies for your records and necessary action.”

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However, Vanguard gathered, yesterday, that plans to return control of the party in the states to governors and critical stakeholders informed the ditching of some of the candidates.

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For instance, a top party source told Vanguard on condition of anonymity that Suswam was consumed by the battle for the control of Benue between Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, and Governor Hycinth Alia.

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“Suswam was sacrificed to please Akume,” a top APC leader told Vanguard.

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Among the senatorial replacements, Senator Sunday Karimi displaced Aro Samuel Bamidele in Kogi West; Edinburgh Uchenna Erondu was replaced by Prince Paul Ikonne in Abia South; Suswam lost the Benue North East ticket to Emmanuel Memga Udende; while in Benue North West, Titus Tartenger Zam replaced Benjamin T. Aber.

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Mohammed Kabir Bello was replaced by Shuibu Isa Lau in Taraba North; Taiwo Fasoranti was substituted by Adeniyi Adegbonmire in Ondo Central; and Elegbeleye lost the Ondo North ticket to Olajide Ipinsagba.

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In the House of Representatives, Benue State recorded the most changes, with five federal constituencies affected. Dickson Tarkighir replaced Ikper Chris Terfa in Makurdi/Guma; Sesoo Ikpagher replaced Livinus Tsar Adzor in Vandeikya/Konshisha; Terser Ugbor substituted Kohol Shedrach Iornem in Kwande/Ushongo; Sekav Dzua Iyortyom replaced Gideon Inyom in Buruku; while Austin Asema Achado displaced Nongo David in Gwer East/Gwer West Federal Constituency.

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In Taraba, Peter Abel Diah was forwarded to replace Sanusi Mohammed Galadima in Gashaka/Kurmi/Sardauna Federal Constituency. Niger State saw Abubakar Lado Abdullahi substitute Adamu Tanko in Suleja/Tafa/Gurara and Adamu Suleiman replacing Adamu Usman in Lavun/Edati/Mokwa.

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In Kwara, Raheem Tunji Olawuyi replaced Olasumbo Florence Oyeyemi in Ekiti/Irepodun/Oke-Ero, while Mohammed Mamman substituted Bello Tauheed Abubakar in Edu/Patigi/Moro.

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Ondo State recorded six House of Representatives changes, with Donald Ojogo replacing Akingboye Leke in Ilaje/Ese-Odo; Festus Olarewaju replacing Rasaq Obe in Idanre; Oluwatimehin Akintomide replacing Kayode Ijalana in Owo/Ose; Okunjinmi John Odimayo replacing Olumuyiwa Daramola in Okitipupa/Irele; Michel Olamidotun Akintomide substituting Abiola Makinde in Ondo West/Ondo East; and Festus Ayodele Adefiranye replacing Oyerinmade Matthew in Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo/Odigbo.

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Rounding out the changes, Abdulazeez Kaka was named as replacement for Samaila Abdu Suleiman in Kaduna North; Samuel Okezie displaced Chris Nkwonta in Ukwa East/Ukwa West in Abia State; while Ekumankama Joseph Nkama replaced Iduma Igariwey Enwo in Afikpo North/Edda Federal Constituency in Ebonyi State.

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Empowering governors

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To contain growing anger trailing the APC candidates list in several state chapters, Vanguard gathered that the party has empowered governors in the ongoing distribution and filling of INEC forms by candidates.

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Although, the NWC has forwarded the INEC forms to the State Working Committees, SWCs, candidates with the support of governors and critical stakeholders in non-APC states are likely to get the forms. This is said to be one of the reasons the full list of candidates has not been published.

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The APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said the party received more than 700 petitions arising from the disputed primaries, adding that its immediate priority was to ensure all candidates complete their nomination forms and meet INEC’s deadline for uploading candidates’ particulars to the commission’s Candidate Nomination Portal, which runs from June 27 to July 11.

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“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,” he said, adding that the party will eventually release the full list.

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Findings indicate that President Bola Tinubu largely kept to his promise of giving state governors a free hand to determine party candidates in their states, a strategy that has left the process of allocating forms tightly tied to governors’ endorsement.

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The form distribution exercise comes as the party moves to douse tension in its ranks. Governors elected on the APC platform had, at an emergency meeting on Tuesday at Imo State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja, presided over by the Imo State governor and Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum PGF, Senator Hope Uzodinma, resolved to hold a troubleshooting parley with the National Chairman of the party, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda.

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Vanguard learned that the parley, which is tentatively scheduled for Thursday(today) in Abuja, is to address the fallout from the primaries.

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The form filling exercise for governors and state assembly candidates is expected to be concluded this week. The development followed the party’s confirmation that it had issued forms to candidates cleared to contest the 2027 elections, weeks after primaries held in May were marred by complaints of irregular voting, alleged imposition of candidates and manipulation of delegates lists.

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In Gombe State, for instance, Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, who is himself seeking a Senate seat after his second term, has already presented INEC nomination forms to the party’s governorship candidate, Dr Jamilu Isiyaku Gwamna, and its National Assembly candidates.

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Across the party’s 31 states, the distribution of forms comes against the backdrop of a mix of first-term governors seeking re-election and second-term governors who have thrown their weights behind preferred successors.

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By May 29, 2027, eight APC governors will complete their constitutionally allowed second terms and vacate office.

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The affected governors are AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara; Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa; Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa; Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos; Babagana Zulum of Borno; Dapo Abiodun of Ogun; Mai Mala Buni of Yobe; and Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe.

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In Lagos, Governor Sanwo-Olu endorsed his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, as his successor, a position in tune with the Governance Advisory Council, the highest decision-making organ of the party in the state.

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In Nasarawa, Governor Sule endorsed Senator Ahmed Aliyu-Wadada as his preferred candidate, a decision that drew objections from former Governor Umaru Al-Makura and former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, who insisted the ticket should be decided through a transparent primary.

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In Borno, a rivalry between Governor Zulum, who backed Mustapha Gubio as his preferred successor, and Vice President Kashim Shettima, a former governor of the state believed to be supporting Senator Kaka Lawan, was resolved after Shettima-led a reconciliation process that produced Gubio as the consensus governorship candidate.

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In Kwara, Governor AbdulRazaq’s preferred successor failed to scale through the governorship primary, with the presidential preference, Yakubu Danladi, receiving INEC nomination form instead.

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Among first-term APC governors seeking re-election in North-West are Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna; Governor Dikko Radda of Katsina; Governor Nasir Idris of Kebbi; and Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara, who were all affirmed as consensus candidates.

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Governor Umaru Bago of Niger and Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue also secured the APC ticket to seek re-election, while Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta, Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom and Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River, all first-term governors, who defected to the APC, similarly returned unopposed.

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