By-Elections: APC Rates Performance ‘Good’ In Enugu, ‘Unimpressive’ In Ondo

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) won the Ondo South Senatorial by-election that took place last weekend, but the party is said to be worried about its performance in the poll. The party national leaders were said to be reviewing the outcome as part of preparations for the 2027 general election.

A source with impeccable credentials described the results as “good and unimpressive.” No official position has been released yet.
By-elections were held in six states by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The APC won five of the contests while Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) retained the Rivers South East Senatorial seat with its candidate Olaka Nwogu.

In Ondo South, a former President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Prof. Dayo Faduyile, won the election with 68,474 votes, beating the Allied People’s Movement (APM) candidate, Adeolu Akinwumi, who scored 1,411 votes.

An APC member of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) told our correspondent that the APC was viewing the by-elections, the recent Ekiti governorship election and the upcoming 15 August Osun governorship poll, as an indication of the party’s readiness for the 2027 elections, especially in the South-West, where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu hails from.

The party leadership has begun a comprehensive review of the elections to determine what we did right and where we need to improve. We’re still working on that, but you know, the by-elections were held in many states. “Right now we only know that we have a good result in Enugu but unimpressive in Ondo even though we won,” he said.

He said the result of the Ondo South was particularly noted due to the low turnout of voters despite the fact that the district is the senatorial zone of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and the APC did not have a strong opposition. The combined votes of all parties were not less than 70,000 as against the 2023 senatorial election when APC candidate, Jimoh Ibrahim, got 110,665 votes while PDP’s Agboola Ajayi got 65,784 votes.

Comparing the Ondo South figures with the recent Enugu North Senatorial by-election where APC polled 162,360 votes against 9,299 votes by PDP, he said, “Even though APC lost the Enugu North seat in 2023, the turnout of voters in the recent by-election was not far from what was recorded in the previous general election.

“The party wants to beat its 2023 presidential vote, particularly in the South West. In 2023, Ondo gave the highest percentage of votes to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the region. The turnout in the by-election has raised questions as to whether the party can surpass the 369,924 votes that Tinubu polled in the state during the presidential election.

Honestly, we have more work to do in Ondo South because seeing that level of turnout in the governor’s enclave was disturbing to us.

It is worrying that in the governor’s electoral ward, with over 11,000 registered voters, our party got less than 700 votes, coming eighth in the 12 wards.

“The APC scored less than 12,000 votes across the entire local government area with approximately 147,000 registered voters,” the source added.

Another APC chieftain in Ondo, who also sought anonymity, said the by-election exposed cracks within the party. Governor Aiyedatiwa was accused of failing to bring stakeholders together in the party, while comments by some of the governor’s loyalists about “retiring” some party leaders had alienated influential members.

He also referred to the violence that marred the party’s congresses in Akure and said some of the victims are yet to recover.

The party stalwart warned that the APC must unite ahead of 2027, especially now that the former Senator Nicholas Tofowomo is the Ondo South senatorial candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).