President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday evening, directed all the 31 governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to ensure free, fair, and rancour-free primaries across the states, in strict compliance with the Electoral Act. Tinubu said this was necessary to preserve the party’s unity and cohesion.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja after a closed-door meeting with the president at State House, Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, and his Niger State counterpart, Mohammed Bago, said deliberations focused on measures to forge a stronger and more cohesive party after the party primaries.
The governors said the president reaffirmed his support for the party’s decision to allow states adopt either consensus or direct primaries in line with the Electoral Act.
According to AbdulRazak, who is also Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), “We came to thank the president for his magnanimity and his support to the governors and for our party, the APC.
“He gave us a matching order on what to do for him.”
AbdulRazak also said the president “ceded his executive power to the governors to go ahead and conduct primaries based on the Electoral Act, either through consensus or direct primaries”.
Similarly, Bago said the president reaffirmed his support and gave approval for the primaries to proceed, stressing that the timetable for the exercise has been released.
He stated, “So he retreated his support for our decision, and he has given us a go ahead.”
Bago added, “We’ve discussed the process moving forward so that there’ll be free and fair elections. No rancour at the end of the process. The party should be stronger, stronger than ever heading towards the election.”
No fewer than 18 governors were present at the meeting. They included Chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), Hope Uzodimma (Imo), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Professor Babagana Zulum (Borno), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), Biodun Oyebanji (Ekiti), Peter Mbah (Enugu), and AbdulRazaq (Kwara).
Some states were represented by their deputy governors.
Meanwhile, APC issued a revised timetable for its primaries ahead of the 2027 general election, with the presidential primary now fixed for May 25, and the governorship two days earlier, on May 23. APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Durosinmi Meseko, made this known after a meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) held at the party’s secretariat.
A previous timetable and schedule of activities issued by the ruling party had scheduled the presidential primary for May 15.
Meseko revealed that the party had communicated the development to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in line with the existing rules and regulations.
He stated that notice had already been given to state chapters on April 20, saying sale of forms would commence on Saturday, April 25, and end Saturday, May 2.
Meseko stressed that the last day for the submission of completed forms and accompanying documents would be Monday, May 4.
He added that screening of House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, and governorship aspirants had been scheduled to hold from Wednesday, May 6, to Friday, May 8.
He stated that Saturday, May 9 was the screening date for presidential aspirants.
Meseko said publication of screening results for House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, governorship, and presidential primaries will hold on Monday, May11.
Meseko said screening appeals would be handled by the appeal committees from Tuesday, May 12, to Wednesday, May 13, for the House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, governorship, and presidential primaries.
He revealed that the ruling party had scheduled Monday, May 18 for Senate primary elections, while Wednesday, May 20, was for House of Assembly primaries, and Thursday, May 21, was for governorship primary elections.
Meseko explained, “Saturday, 23rd May, 2026: Presidential primary elections. Post-primary appeal committees will sit as follows: Monday, 18th May, 2026 for House of Representatives; Wednesday, 20th May, 2026 for Senate; Thursday, 21st May, 2026 for State House of Assembly; Saturday, 23rd May, 2026 for governorship; Monday, 25th May, 2026 for presidential.”
Deji Elumoye and Adedayo Akinwale
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