By Adegboyega Adefemi
The All Progressives Congress has an internal democratic credentials crisis over the years, and imposition with impunity is the regular practice, and it’s hiding in the political arena of Nigeria.
Ahead of the National Assembly primaries slated for May 2026, I the APC, most popular aspirants and whispers in Abuja have turned into loud alarms: APC is perfecting a script where popular aspirants are screened out for “unknown reasons” so anointed candidates can be imposed without contest despite scheduling primaries either Consensus or Direct mode.
This isn’t new. But this time, the stakes are higher — and the fallout could cost APC the general election.
The Playbook: Screening by Fiat, Not by Rules. The official reason is always “screening.” The real reason? Imposition. This tactic was used during the recent Governorship primaries in Osun and Ekiti, where Senator Iyiola Omisore and Kayode Ojo were disqualified unjustly despite their huge popularity.
Sources within the party reveal that certain camps loyal to sitting power holders are lobbying hard to plant loyalists on the Primary Election Committees. Their goal is simple: disqualify strong, grassroots-backed aspirants on flimsy or undisclosed grounds.
No public hearing. No known offence. Just a letter saying “not cleared.”
For aspirants from most parts of Southwest and the North, this is already a red flag. If you can’t beat a popular aspirant at the ballot, you remove him at the desk.
The Anointed Candidate Culture Undermines the Party
This is the autocratic tendency APC promised to bury in 2015. But the situation is getting worse.
When party structures are used to handpick candidates instead of allowing delegates to choose, three things happen:
- Voter apathy: The base feels their votes don’t matter. Turnout collapses.
- Mass defection: Popular aspirants and their structures either decamp or work against the party from within.
- Opposition advantage: PDP, LP, NDC, ADC, AAC and others sit on the sidelines, ready to harvest a fractured APC.
If APC disqualifies their most popular aspirants in Ogun, Lagos, and even Osun, Ekiti, and Ondo states, for instance, ahead of the Senate and the House of Representatives primaries, to force through an “anointed/imposed” name, it isn’t just unfair — it’s electoral suicide.
In Ogun State, Senator Gbenga Daniel and Governor Abiodun are at loggerheads over the Ogun East senatorial ticket while in Ondo State, for instance, the Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has drawn up what he called a “Consensus list,” believed to have included many unacceptable aspirants while the popular aspirants across the three senatorial districts may suffer “disqualification” from the autocratic APC leaders.
Recently, four aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the position of the House of Representatives in Ondo East/West Federal constituency have rejected the imposition of Aiyedatiwa’s ally as the party’s Consensus Candidate to enable him to recontest.
The aspirants, namely Dr. Jibayo Adeyeye, Hon. Ade Adeniyi, Hon. Bola Fisayo, and Dr. Michael Ajilo, described the political move as an imposition that cannot be accepted by them, calling on the party’s leadership to conduct free and fair direct primaries to choose a candidate for the federal constituency.
They told newsmen after their joint meeting in Ondo that all of them have obtained nomination and expression of interest forms, signalling that they are fully prepared for the direct primary as stipulated in the laws.
The aspirants insisted that they were never part of any consensus arrangement leading to the endorsement of any candidate for our federal constituency, hence their total rejection and call for a direct primary.
Also in Ondo North and Ondo Central, the most popular aspirants among the masses are not getting the buy-in of the state leadership of the party, and hence they may be pushing for their disqualification.
An APC chieftain in Ondo State, Chief Ayodele Emmanuel, warned that “disqualifying popular aspirants like Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire, Hon. Festus Akingbaso, Chief Alex Ajipe, and even Olusegun Ategbole, who are all grassroots solid, can lead to disaster for APC. Let the party’s national leadership order free and fair direct primaries in those areas or in the entire Ondo State to avoid rejection of the APC or it can cause voter apathy.”
There are several calls for a fair direct primary to save the party’s fortune from dwindling and collapsing. Party members see this screening tactic of disqualifying popular aspirants as a tool to kill equity before voting even begins and not giving them a chance to exercise their franchise. They warned, “Tinubu will suffer in 2027 if the APC leadership imposes unpopular candidates on us.”
The Dangerous Signal It Sends
APC was built on the promise of internal democracy and due process. When members see that popularity and service mean nothing compared to proximity to power, trust erodes.
The message becomes: Don’t work for the people. Work for the godfather. That culture kills party discipline and breeds resentment that lasts beyond one election cycle. The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and other opposition parties may reap from the latest imposition plot of the APC.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President and the national leadership of the APC are under intense pressure to allow party candidates to go for direct primaries instead of “failed consensus” imposed by most governors, especially those from Ogun, Ondo, and places like Nasarawa.
The Way Forward: Let the People Decide
A political party that fears its own members cannot win a general election.
If APC wants to win Southwest and most parts of the North in 2027, the APC National Working Committee must enforce a transparent, credible primary where all cleared aspirants face the delegates. No hidden disqualifications. No backdoor imposition.
The people are watching. The opposition is waiting. And history shows that parties that ignore fairness at the primary pay for it at the polls.
Inequality, lack of rule of law, and lack of internal democracy may destroy the peace of the APC and threaten the party’s unity.
Prince Adegboyega Adefemi, APC chieftain, writes from Abuja, FCT.
Disclaimer: Opinion does not belong to Starnews NG, but the writer.
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