Politics

APC Primary: Tinubu Extends Lead After Box 20

Published

3 years ago

June 8, 2022

The National leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, is leading in the ongoing presidential primary of the party in Abuja.

Tinubu extended his lead after Box 20 was counted.

So far, he has obtained over 890 votes to lead his closest contenders, Rotimi Amaechi and Yemi Osinbajo.

Amaechi has obtained 175 votes so far while Osinbajo polled 126.

The winner is expected to be declared in a few hours.

Fourteen aspirants in the race are Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajuba, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Mr Ahmed Rufai, Senator Rochas Okorocha, Mr Jack Rich, Gov. Ben Ayade, Gov. David Umuahi, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Sen. Ahmed Yarima, Dr Ahmed Lawal, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, Gov. Yahaya Bello and Mr Ogbonnaya Onu.

Nine aspirants had earlier withdrawn from the race including Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohnenye, Dr Felix Nicholas, former Gov. Godswill Akpabio, former Gov. Ibikunle Amosun, former Speaker Dimeji Bankole, Sen. Ajayi Boroffice, Gov. Muhammad Badaru, Sen. Ken Nnamani and Gov. Kayode Fayemi.

However, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, has hailed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as counting and sorting are underway.

“PYO you remain my hero for life. Congratulations to everyone who has been part of this movement. God bless you all and may we not trade our nation away as some did yesterday,” Ojodu said.

A total of 2,260 delegates of the All Progressives Congress voted at the ongoing party’s Presidential Primary at Eagle Square, Abuja.

The total rundown of states and their respective accredited delegates are as follows:

Abia – 50; Adamawa- 62; Anambra- 63; Bayelsa- 24; Bauchi- 55; Benue- 64; Borno- 81; Cross River- 54; Delta- 73; Enugu- 51; Ekiti- 48; Edo- 54; Ebonyi- 38; FCT- 80.

Others are Gombe- 33; Imo- 81; Jigawa- 81; Lagos- 60; Plateau- 51; Katsina- 102; Kebbi- 63; Kwara- 48; Kogi- 63; Kaduna- 61; Kano- 126; Nasarawa- 39; Niger- 75; Ondo- 54; Ogun- 60; Oyo- 99; Osun- 90; Rivers- 69; Sokoto- 69; Taraba- 46; Yobe- 51 and Zamfara- 42.

Reported had it earlier that selected members of APC have gathered to choose a candidate for next year’s election to replace the President Muhammadu Buhari.

They are to select a candidate to face 75-year-old Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party among others in the February 25 presidential ballot.

Buhari, who is stepping down after the two terms he is allowed in the constitution, arrived at the Eagle Square convention centre early in the evening before voting was to start.

The Nigerian leader has spent days leading up to the convention in negotiations with the APC’s leaders seeking unity over a party candidate.

“The fate of the party depends on what we do here,” APC party chairman Abdullahi Adamu said, echoing Buhari’s call for unity in the ranks.

“We cannot go into the general election next year without putting our house together.”

Part of the APC’s debate over candidates relates to “zoning” – an unofficial agreement among political elites that Nigeria’s presidency should rotate between those from the predominantly Christian south and those from the largely Muslim north.

After northern Buhari, observers expected the presidency to go to a candidate from the south.

But the PDP – which held its primary on May 28 and 29 – chose Abubakar, a former vice president and a political stalwart who is a northern Muslim.

The opposition’s choice to ignore “zoning” has made the APC reconsider how their candidate will appeal to the north, where voter numbers and participation are traditionally higher.

Buhari, who is the leader of the ruling party, has not declared support for any candidate and instructed APC members to “allow the delegates to decide.”

“Our objective must be the victory of our party and our choice of candidate must be someone who would give the Nigerian masses a sense of victory and confidence even before the elections,” he said last week.

Heavy security was deployed in central Abuja early Tuesday and streets were gridlocked as hundreds of APC supporters wearing the party colours of green, white and red gathered in and around the venue.

Politics

PDP Issues Certificate Of Expulsion To Wike, Fayose, Anyanwu, Others

Published

3 days ago

December 3, 2025

Editor

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it has issued certificate of expulsion from the party to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and other 10 members earlier expelled from the party.

The party National Chairman, Tanimu Turaki, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen after the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

The other members, according to him, include the embattled National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu, the Legal Adviser, Kamarudeen Ajibade, former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose.

They also included Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa, Austin Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah Nnanna, George Turna and Chief Dan Orbih, expelled during the party National convention in Lagos.

Turaki said that the original copies of the certificate had been dispatched to the owners through a courier service to serve as proof that they were expelled from the PDP.

“We have taken note of the fact that Nigerian law frowns on dual membership of political parties, and so we have sought to make it easy for them.

“Now that they are no longer members of our party, and now that the National Convention, which is the highest decision-making organ of our party, has expelled them, we have decided to issue them certificates of expulsion.

“So, when they go to register with other political parties in Nigeria, they will show these certificates as proof that they are no longer members of the PDP.

“By that, those parties will not accuse them of trying to belong to more than one political party,” he said.

He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies, including the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services, and other government agencies, to take note.

“Very soon, members of the society will be informed via proper disclaimers that any person henceforth who decides to do business with them, any or all of them, does so at his or her own risk.

“They are no longer members of the PDP. They have been expelled,” he added.

He added that the NWC also reviewed some of the cases filed against the party and lawsuits instituted by the party, particularly the one that related to the “unlawful and illegal” closure of the party’s national Secretariat, the Legacy House, and the Wadata Plaza.

“The brief we received from our lawyers is that we are on sound ground, and that very soon, the law will take its course,” he said.

Turaki said the NWC was prepared to be saddled with the responsibility of performing its functions as the leading opposition party in Nigeria.

“We are going to provide a credible alternative to Nigerians. We are going to provide credible leadership to Nigerians by the special grace of God from 2027,” he said.

Politics

Adebayo Adedamola Wins Osun PDP Governorship Primary

Published

4 days 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

4 days 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.”