Politics

2023: APC Fails To Upload Candidates For 25 NASS Seats

Published

3 years ago

July 10, 2022

Following its inability to resolve several internal crises among its members, All Progressives Congress, APC, may not field candidates for 25 National Assembly, NASS, seats, it was learned.

At the end of the deadline for submission of candidates for NASS seats on June 17, APC was said to have been unable to upload some of its candidates.

Prominent among the vacant seats are Yobe North and Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial Districts where the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan and immediate past Minister of Niger Delta, Sen Godswill Akpabion hail from.

A party source, who is angry at the development, lamented that APC leaders are nowhere to be found at a critical time such as this.

He said: “Our National Chairman is out of the country. Some said he went to China while others said he went to Germany. Our National Secretary, understandably, is very busy in his home state, Osun, ahead of the governorship election. Some members of the National Working Committee,NWC, are also either out of Abuja or even out of the country.

“The situation is such that even staff salaries at the party headquarters were only paid recently.

“As things stand, we don’t have candidates for 25 National Assembly seats because we did not upload candidates.”

Vanguard gathered that APC has been trying to use back channels to get the Independent National Electoral Commission ,INEC, to do its bidding by allowing it to upload candidates for the affected seats.

However, it was gathered that INEC insisted that it could not bend the rule for the ruling party.

The online submission of nomination forms EC9A, 9B, 9C, 9D and 9E for national elections – presidential and national assembly started on June 10 and ended on June 17.

Also, the dates for the submission of nomination forms for state elections – governorship and state assembly are between July 1 and July 15.

When contacted, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka declined comments.

However, INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, told Vanguard that “some political parties uploaded half the number (of candidates) depending on their relative strength and electoral preferences”.

Okoye was not specific about the APC.

He said: “We have 109 Senatorial Seats and 360 House of Representatives seats. We have presidential and vice presidential nominations. Ordinarily, each registered political party is supposed to upload the personal particulars of 471 candidates.

“Some political parties uploaded half the number depending on their relative strength and electoral preferences. The personal particulars of the validly nominated candidates have been published in the various constituencies.

“There is no law that mandates political parties to nominate 471 candidates. I can confirm that majority of the political parties did not meet up with the 471 threshold”.

Meanwhile, INEC has stated that its decision regarding the non publication of candidates for the Yobe North Senatorial District and Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial District remained sacrosanct as it cannot reverse itself again.

Advising aggrieved political parties to approach the Federal High Court for remedial measures, INEC said it has now become “functus officio” in the matter.

Specifically, APC has been making a lot of allegations regarding its primary elections in the two districts.

VANGUARD

Politics

Adebayo Adedamola Wins Osun PDP Governorship Primary

Published

13 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola, popularly known as FRYO, has emerged as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for the August 8, 2026 governorship election in Osun State.

The primary election took place in Osogbo on Tuesday amid heavy security presence.

Announcing the result, chairman of the primary election committee, Humphrey Abba, stated that Adebayo secured 919 votes out of 957 accredited ballots, giving him a clear victory in the contest.

Explaining that there were 20 void votes following the withdrawal of one of the candidates, believed to be Governor Ademola Adeleke, Abba added, “The candidate that got the remaining votes is Adebayo Adedamola with 919 votes and he stands elected and returned.”

DAILY POST reports that despite announcing his resignation from the party, Adeleke’s name appeared on the ballot paper for the PDP governorship primary.

Party officials said the exercise was conducted in accordance with established guidelines, with accredited delegates participating in the voting process.

Adeleke announced his resignation in a letter dated November 4, 2025, and addressed to the PDP leadership at his ward.

On Monday, Osun PDP chairman, Sunday Bisi, had announced that the governorship primary slated for Tuesday, December 2, 2025, has been postponed due to leadership crisis at the national level.

But a faction of the party went ahead with the exercise in Osogbo on Tuesday.

Politics

Gov Adeleke Resigns From PDP

Published

23 hours ago

December 2, 2025

Editor

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial primaries of the party.

Adeleke’s resignation letter, dated November 4, 2025, sighted by Tribune Online was addressed to the PDP ward chairman for Ward 2, Sagba Abogunde, Ede, Osun State.

According to the letter, the governor’s resignation was based on “the current crisis of the national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).”

According to the letter, titled: “Resignation of my membership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’ read, “Due to the current crisis of the national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), I hereby resign my Membership of the People’s Democratic Party with immediate effect.

“I thank the People’s Democratic Party for the opportunities given to me for my elections as a Senator (Represented Osun West) and as Governor of Osun State under the People’s Democratic Party.”

Politics

Tinubu Sends Ex-INEC Chair, Former Oyo First Lady, 30 Additional Ambassadorial Nominees To Senate

Published

3 days ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

President Bola Tinubu has forwarded 32 additional ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, just days after submitting an initial batch of three names.

In two separate letters to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the President urged the upper chamber to consider and swiftly confirm 15 career diplomats and 17 non-career nominees.

The list includes four women among the career nominees and six women among the non-career nominees.

Prominent names on the non-career list include Barrister Ogbonnaya Kalu from Abia State; former presidential aide, Reno Omokri (Delta); former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu; former Ekiti First Lady, Erelu Angela Adebayo; and former Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

Others are former Speaker of the Katsina State House of Assembly, Tasiu Musa Maigari; former Plateau State Commissioner, Yakubu N. Gambo; and former Deputy Executive Secretary of UBEC, Yakubu K. Musa.

Also nominated are former Plateau senator, Prof. Nora Ladi Daduut; former Lagos Deputy Governor, Otunba Femi Pedro; former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode; and Barrister Nkechi Linda Ufochukwu from Anambra State.

Additional nominees include former Oyo First Lady, Fatima Florence Ajimobi; former Lagos Commissioner, Lola Akande; former Adamawa senator, Grace Bent; former Abia governor, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu; Senator Jimoh Ibrahim of Ondo State; and former envoy to the Holy See, Ambassador Paul Oga Adikwu (Benue).

The career ambassadorial nominees are Enebechi Monica Okwuchukwu (Abia), Yakubu Nyaku Danladi (Taraba), Miamuna Ibrahim Besto (Adamawa), Musa Musa Abubakar (Kebbi), Syndoph Paebi Endoni (Bayelsa), Chima Geoffrey Lioma David (Ebonyi), and Mopelola Adeola-Ibrahim (Ogun).

Others include Abimbola Samuel Reuben (Ondo), Yvonne Ehinosen Odumah (Edo), Hamza Mohammed Salau (Niger), Ambassador Shehu Barde (Katsina), Ambassador Ahmed Mohammed Monguno (Borno), Ambassador Muhammad Saidu Dahiru (Kaduna), Ambassador Olatunji Ahmed Sulu Gambari (Kwara), and Ambassador Wahab Adekola Akande (Osun).

The new nominees are expected to be deployed to countries with which Nigeria maintains strong and strategic diplomatic relations, including China, India, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, South Africa, and Kenya, as well as to Permanent Missions such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and the African Union.

Their specific postings will be determined after Senate confirmation.

Recall that President Tinubu, last week, forwarded three ambassadorial nominees, Ambassador Ayodele Oke (Oyo), Ambassador Amin Mohammed Dalhatu (Jigawa), and retired Colonel Lateef Kayode Are (Ogun), who are being considered for postings to the UK, USA, or France.

President Tinubu said additional ambassadorial nominations will be announced in due course.