From Victor Osula, Abuja
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has dropped former Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, former House of Representatives member, Gbenga Elegbeleye, and 23 other National Assembly candidates from the party’s final list submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following the resolution of more than 700 petitions arising from its primary elections.
The revised list, forwarded to INEC, reflects the outcome of the APC Primary Election Appeal Committee’s review of disputes generated by the party’s May 2026 primaries.
According to documents submitted to the electoral commission, six senatorial candidates, including Suswam and Elegbeleye, and 19 House of Representatives candidates who had initially emerged victorious at the primaries were replaced after the NWC ratified the Appeal Committee’s recommendations.
The affected constituencies are spread across Abia, Benue, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Ondo and Taraba states.
In a letter to INEC jointly signed by APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, and National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, the party said the changes followed the review of appeals lodged after the primaries and were made in line with the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC’s nomination guidelines.
The letter, titled “Forwarding of Approved List of Senatorial and House of Representatives Candidates”, stated that the revised list represented the party’s final position on the affected constituencies.
“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.
“Following the determination of appeals from the recently concluded primary elections, the reports of the Appeal Committee were reviewed and subsequently considered and approved by the party’s NWC as its final position on the affected constituencies”, the letter read.
The APC also requested INEC to accept the revised nominations and take the necessary action in accordance with the law.
The latest substitutions come as political parties race to beat INEC’s July 10 deadline for the submission of candidates’ particulars for the 2027 general elections.
Among those whose nominations were retained are Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, Senate Chief Whip Mohammed Monguno and former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, all of whom have received their Candidate Affidavit Forms (EC9).
Four serving governors also made the APC’s final senatorial list. They are Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, Gombe State Governor Inuwa Yahaya and Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, who were all cleared to contest Senate seats.
Also cleared are former Kaduna State Governor Mukhtar Yero, former Senator Shehu Sani and Senator Sunday Katung to contest senatorial seats in Kaduna State.
Former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello also secured the APC ticket for Kogi Central Senatorial District and is among the party’s 109 senatorial candidates.
For the House of Representatives, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, former Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa and James Faleke are among those cleared to fly the APC flag.
APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, had disclosed that the party received more than 700 petitions from aggrieved aspirants after its primary elections.
According to him, while the petitions necessitated a review of some outcomes, the party’s immediate priority remains ensuring that all successful candidates complete the required nomination forms for upload to INEC’s Candidate Nomination Portal.
“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. Although we will eventually release the list, our immediate priority is to ensure that our candidates complete their forms and meet INEC’s deadline. This is more important to us than the public release of the candidates’ list. Those who are our candidates have, by now, received their forms. They already know themselves; there is no tension about that”, Morka said.
INEC had earlier opened its Candidate Nomination Portal for political parties to upload the names and particulars of their presidential and National Assembly candidates from June 27 to July 10.
