*As 19 APC Reps Lose Return Tickets
The All Progressives Congress (APC) is sitting on a keg of political gunpowder. Unless the party’s national leadership, and by extension, the presidency act swiftly and decisively, the ruling party faces the real prospect of a coordinated internal revolt that could significantly damage its electoral fortunes in the 2027 general elections.
The threat faced by the APC can hardly be described as hypothetical. It is gathering momentum in the shadows of a primary process that many aggrieved aspirants describe, in unguarded moments, as a carefully choreographed exercise in exclusion.
The Aspirants Caught In The Middle
At the centre of the brewing storm is a class of aspirants who invested heavily in some cases, spending tens of millions of Naira on expression of interest and nomination forms only to find themselves screened out, disqualified or defeated through processes they regard as manipulated.
What makes their situation uniquely combustible is a legal trap they walked into without fully appreciating its implications: the amended Electoral Act, which has effectively sealed the defection route that aggrieved aspirants have historically used as a release valve in previous election cycles.
The Electoral Act Trap
Under the amended Section 77 of the Electoral Act 2026, any individual who knowingly maintains membership of two political parties simultaneously forfeits recognition as a valid member of either party, pending regularisation in accordance with the Act’s provisions.
More critically, defection now attracts a penalty of a two-year custodial sentence, a fine of N10 million, or both.
For aspirants who previously regarded cross-party movement as a legitimate political option, this provision has slammed a door they did not know was about to close.
Many, sources confirm, realised the full weight of this restriction only after they had already committed their financial resources to the primary process.
Confronted with no viable electoral alternative, the calculus for many of these aggrieved aspirants has shifted from seeking fortune elsewhere to seeking retribution from within. Anti-party activities — that most corrosive of internal political weapons — have become the instrument of last resort for those who feel they have nothing left to lose.
Over 180 Aspirants Screened Out
The scale of the disqualifications alone is alarming. Over 180 APC aspirants across the country have been screened out of the primary processes. Many more have been suspended by the party for daring to seek legal redress against what they described as the imposition of candidates.
In several states, the hand of the governor in determining outcomes has been barely concealed. The consensus candidacy model, ostensibly a mechanism for orderly agreement, has, in practice, functioned as a gubernatorial veto, with state executives using their control of party structures to pre-select loyalists and present the outcome as collective will.
Yilwatda’s Warning And Appeal
The APC National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, has responded to the gathering storm with a combination of warning and appeal that has satisfied neither side of the argument.
In a recent statement that some party observers described as adding salt to an open wound, Yilwatda threatened disgruntled aspirants with immediate suspension should they instigate violence, sponsor unrest or engage in anti-party conduct capable of undermining the integrity of the primary process.
“In every democratic contest, only one person will eventually emerge victorious,” he said. “What is important is the spirit with which the process is approached. I urge all aspirants to display maturity, patriotism and good sportsmanship by embracing the outcome of the primaries in the overall interest of the party and our democracy.”
The appeal, however sincere, collides with a ground reality that the party’s own internal intelligence cannot credibly deny.
