KEY POINTS
- President Tinubu has rejected lobbying by APC senators for automatic return tickets ahead of 2027 elections.
- He has empowered state governors to drive the party’s primary process via consensus or direct primaries.
- The APC’s revised timetable now sets House primaries for May 15, Senate for May 18 and presidential primary for May 23, 2026.
President Bola Tinubu has shut the door on a lobbying push by ruling party senators for automatic return tickets in the 2027 elections. Instead, he handed full control of the All Progressives Congress primaries to state governors, leaving incumbent lawmakers to fight for their seats on the governors’ terms.
The decision lands as a stinging blow to a Senate leadership that had walked into the Presidential Villa on Wednesday evening expecting a different answer. Multiple sources familiar with the meeting said Tinubu was unequivocal.
“He told them plainly that governors were the leaders of the party in their states and must have a say on who gets the ticket,” one senior source said.
A meeting that did not go as planned
Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas pulled into the Villa shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday in an unscheduled visit. Earlier, Tinubu had hinted he would “do everything within the party’s power” to bring serving lawmakers back.
However, Senate Majority Leader Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, who confirmed the meeting in an X post, called it a session on “matters of urgent national importance.” Bayo Onanuga, the president’s adviser on information and strategy, separately described it as a consultation with the extended Senate leadership.
Governors get the green light
Less than 24 hours later, Tinubu convened a second meeting with APC governors. Crucially, Niger State Governor Mohammed Bago, speaking to State House correspondents afterward, said the president had ceded executive authority over the primaries entirely.
“He gave us a matching order on what to do for him, he has given and ceded his executive power to the governors to go ahead and conduct primaries based on the Electoral Act, either a consensus or direct primaries,” Bago said. Similarly, Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said the party released the timetable, with the goal of free and fair contests and no rancor at the end.
Furthermore, Tinubu’s position aligns with what APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda already laid out at an April 17 media chat. He said the party’s constitution does not allow automatic tickets and that performance, not incumbency, must decide who returns. The APC’s revised 2027 primary calendar, announced by Deputy National Publicity Secretary Duro Meseko, now sets House of Representatives primaries for May 15, Senate primaries for May 18 and the presidential primary for May 23. Sales of forms begin Saturday, April 25, with completed forms due May 4.
Senators on the chopping block
Tinubu’s stance may end the careers of several incumbents. Senator Gbenga Daniel of Ogun East faces a campaign by Governor Dapo Abiodun to take his seat. Abiodun reportedly excluded Daniel from a recent stakeholders’ meeting in the district.
Meanwhile, Senator Aliyu Wadada has secured a consensus endorsement for Nasarawa governor, exiting the chamber. In Oyo, Senator Sharafadeen Alli got APC’s backing on April 15 to succeed Governor Seyi Makinde.
The fallout in Benue between Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume and Governor Hyacinth Alia has pushed 10 of the state’s 11 federal lawmakers into Akume’s camp. Even so, with Alia in the room Thursday, Tinubu gave governors the green light.
