APC Schedules Tinubu, Running Mate Nomination After Uploading Key Details To INEC Portal

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has said that it is on course to meet the deadline of July 11 set by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the submission of its candidates for the presidential and National Assembly elections for the 2027 general elections.

A senior member of the party’s National Working Committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the uploading of candidates’ details had reached advanced stage.

The source said details of President Bola Tinubu and his running mate were expected to be uploaded to the INEC portal by the middle of the week.

“The details of our National Assembly candidates are being uploaded smoothly,” the source told The Nation.

“We expect to upload the particulars of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his running mate on or before next Wednesday. We are very sure that by July 11, we will have uploaded all our candidates on the INEC portal.”

Checks at the APC’s Information and Communications Technology department at the Muhammadu Buhari House national secretariat in Abuja on Sunday showed that the party’s technical team had been interacting with the INEC portal without interruption.

Sources in the department said the details of most principal officers of the 10th National Assembly and some serving lawmakers have already been uploaded.

The details of four serving governors namely AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Kwara State; Mai Mala Buni, Yobe State; Hope Uzodimma, Imo State and Dapo Abiodun, Ogun State have also been uploaded to the electoral commission’s portal, they added.

The governors are part of the notable members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that chose the senatorial tickets of the party in preparation for the 2027 general elections.

The race to beat the INEC deadline followed a review of the APC primary elections after hundreds of petitions were filed by aggrieved aspirants.

The party recently submitted a revised list of candidates to the INEC after its NWC dropped six senatorial and 19 House of Representatives candidates who had earlier emerged from the May primaries.

The changes touched constituencies in Abia, Kogi, Taraba, Benue, Ebonyi, Ondo, Kaduna, Niger and Kwara states.

The changes came after the party’s Primary Election Appeal Committee made its recommendations.

A letter conveying the revised list was sent to INEC and signed by the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda and the National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru.

The APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said the ruling party received over 700 petitions from aggrieved members after the conclusion of its primaries.

“The party got over 700 petitions from aggrieved members after the conclusion of our shadow elections,” Morka said.

Then the party’s leadership considered the recommendations that arose from the petitions, resulting in some constituency changes, while candidates who managed to defend their victories via the appeal process retained their tickets.

Morka refused to say when the final list of candidates of the APC would be published.

“The party’s immediate priority is to ensure that all approved candidates fill and return their INEC Form EC9 nomination documents before the deadline,” he said.

“Our immediate absolute priority now is to ensure that our designated candidates properly complete and return their Form EC9 nomination documents for uploading before the INEC deadline rather than releasing the list to the public,” he said.

Some changes came out of the appeal process, but many of the major APC figures held on to their tickets, including sitting governors who want to go to the Senate in 2027.