The All Progressives Congress (APC) has announced that its presidential candidate for the 2027 general election will emerge through a direct primary election to be held nationwide on Saturday, May 23, with party members expected to vote across all 8,809 wards in the country.
The decision was disclosed by APC National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, in a notice released on Thursday night outlining the framework for the exercise. The direct primary will see President Bola Ahmed Tinubu seek the party’s ticket against challenger Stanley Osifo.
Under the arrangement, all registered APC members will be eligible to vote in their respective wards, as the party moves to adopt what it described as a more inclusive internal democratic process.
Basiru explained that votes cast at the ward level would move through a multi-stage collation process. Results from the wards will first be compiled at the local government level before progressing to state collation centres and eventually the national headquarters in Abuja.
According to the APC, local government results will be handled by designated Collation Officers appointed by state coordinators and approved by the National Working Committee (NWC), while state coordinators will oversee the conduct of the primary across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The party said final state results would be submitted to the Presidential Primary Election Committee in Abuja on May 24, adding that the exercise would follow operational guidelines earlier shared with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
To supervise the process, the APC constituted a seven-member Presidential Primary Election Committee chaired by former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim. Other members include former Senate President Ken Nnamani, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), former Women Affairs Minister Grace Titi Laoye-Ponle, former Speaker Yakubu Dogara, former Kogi State Governor Idris Wada, while Sanusi Musa will serve as secretary.
The Appeal Committee will be led by former Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari, with Samuel Piwuna as secretary and former Speaker Patricia Etteh as a member. The party also appointed state coordinators, largely drawn from sitting governors and senior party figures, to oversee implementation across states.
