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APC’s Substitution Storm: Can the ruling party survives the legal fireworks?

Published

3 weeks ago

July 31, 2026

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is fighting a two-front war of its own making. Having conducted primaries across the federation, the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) moved to replace a swath of candidates before final submission to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and in doing so, triggered litigation from its own governors, aggrieved aspirants, and rival parties. All of it converges on one question: does the APC have the legal room to rewrite its primary outcomes?
What began as internal party grumbling has hardened into a full-blown constitutional and statutory contest, now before the Federal High Court, with INEC itself effectively siding against the party it is meant to regulate.

Mapping the Fallout: Nine States, Dozens of Casualties

INEC records show a significant number of Senatorial and House of Representatives candidates who won APC primaries in May were substituted before the final list reached the commission. Aggrieved aspirants allege the changes favoured influential party leaders and senior political office holders, with some claiming officials exploited the window between the conclusion of primaries and submission of names to alter the original list.
The affected senatorial districts and constituencies span nine states: Abia, Benue, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Ondo and Taraba. Among the casualties: former Governor and Senator Gabriel Suswam, who had earlier emerged as APC’s Benue North-East (Zone A) senatorial candidate, and House member Gbenga Elegbeleye, previously the party’s Ondo North senatorial candidate.
The internal alarm reached the presidency early. Fourteen prominent APC stakeholders — including sitting senators and former lawmakers appealed to President Tinubu and the NWC to intervene in what they described as a deepening internal crisis.

The Party’s Defence

APC spokesman Felix Morka has mounted a public rebuttal. He says the NWC received more than 720 petitions from aspirants after the primaries, which were reviewed by appeal committees before recommendations went to the National Working Committee — which then re-evaluated the cases itself before approving changes.
Morka rejects claims that tickets went to non-participants, saying he is unaware of any case where someone who never bought forms or was never screened was suddenly handed a ticket while conceding that losing aspirants naturally have reason to be dissatisfied. His central argument is procedural: that a primary election “is a process, not an event,” and that the appeal mechanism is an integral part of that process rather than an invention to cause mischief.
Beyond individual states, the party told INEC the National Assembly changes stemmed from recommendations of its Primary Election Appeal Committee following resolution of petitions. The NWC’s transmittal letter framed the changes as the party’s “final position,” citing compliance with “the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended).”
That citation may itself be a problem the process is now governed by the Electoral Act 2026, not 2022, and the mismatch could become a legal vulnerability in its own right.

The Legal Fault Line

Critics counter that the appeal-committee route is itself the problem. Legal practitioners and affected aspirants argue the substitutions contravene Section 33 of the Electoral Act, which permits candidate changes only in cases of death or voluntary withdrawal and that the process may separately breach the right to fair hearing under Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution.
Roughly 26 National Assembly candidates are said to be affected by this dispute alone, prompting development partners to caution INEC chairman Amupitan against letting internal party appeal committees become a backdoor to rewrite primary outcomes.
That caution has since become litigation. APC state governors have gone to the Federal High Court, dragging both the NWC and INEC into court over the substitution of 26 legislative candidates nationwide, securing an interim injunction from Justice Ekwo in mid-July. In Benue and Ondo, aggrieved candidates are separately seeking court orders restraining APC from substituting candidates they say were validly nominated through the party’s June 29 correspondence to INEC — with insiders warning the suit could force fresh primaries or candidate-list changes ahead of 2027.

A Widening Judicial Backdrop

The substitution fight is unfolding against a broader battle over INEC’s own election timetable. In May, Justice Umar voided INEC’s compressed deadlines, ruling the commission cannot abridge the 120-day statutory window for submitting candidate particulars under Section 29(1), and — citing Section 31 — lacks power to shorten the 90-day period parties have to withdraw and substitute candidates. Justice Omotosho separately ordered INEC to amend its timetable to conform with the Electoral Act on membership registers and candidate substitution.
However, the Court of Appeal, ruling on INEC’s appeal, vacated the judgment that had nullified the electoral body’s 2027 timelines — adding another layer of procedural uncertainty to an already tangled picture.

Case Study: FHC/ABJ/CS/1429/2026 The Benue and Ondo Suit

In a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1429/2026, Engr. Sesugh Kaaba and other aggrieved APC candidates from Benue State (loyalists of Governor Hyacinth Alia), commenced action against the APC and INEC. Ondo plaintiffs joined the same fight, naming Gbenga Elegbeleye, Dr. Taiwo Fasoranti, and several House aspirants replaced in the NWC’s revised list.
The plaintiffs asked the court to determine whether, under Sections 6(1) and 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution and Sections 29(1), 33(1), 84(1)–(2), 86, 87 and 88(2) of the Electoral Act 2026, the APC could — through its June 29, 2026 correspondence or any other — substitute validly nominated candidates absent voluntary withdrawal, death, or disqualification.
They sought a declaration that any such substitution is null and void, and an order compelling APC and INEC to recognise the original primary winners — among them Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Alia (Governorship), Senator Gabriel Suswam, Benjamin Terseer Aber, and Francis Otta Agbo, alongside a full slate of House of Representatives including Engr. David Terhemba Nongo and 32 House of Assembly candidates.
Interim relief: Before the substantive hearing, Justice Inyang Ekwo issued a preservative order directing the parties to maintain the status quo ante, holding that once issues were joined — particularly with INEC before the court — the defendants were bound by law to preserve the subject matter. It was, he told counsel, “not a matter of advice but of law.” APC and INEC were restrained from any action capable of altering the disputed candidate list pending determination of the substantive suit.

The Core Statutory Provision

Section 33 of the Electoral Act 2026 states plainly that a party may not change or substitute a submitted candidate except in the case of death or withdrawal by the candidate. A legal commentator summarised the practical effect: once a party submits its list to INEC, substitution is strictly limited to death or voluntary written withdrawal, and a fresh primary must follow within 14 days of a valid withdrawal.
On its face, this is the plaintiffs’ whole case – the NWC’s “appeal committee” mechanism is not one of the two statutory grounds.

The Plaintiffs’ Dual-Track Argument

Beyond the bare statutory point, the plaintiffs are stacking a due-process claim on top of it: that overturning a delegate-certified, INEC-monitored primary through an internal appeal panel could violate the fair-hearing guarantee under Section 36, since the original winners were displaced without an adversarial hearing. In Benue, plaintiffs went further, framing the NWC’s move as “an unconstitutional subversion of the Electoral Act.”
This combination of statutory violation plus constitutional fair-hearing violation gives the court two independent grounds to rule against APC, even should one theory falter.

INEC’s Position: An Unusual Alignment

In its affidavit filed July 5 in reply to the originating summons, INEC threw its weight behind the plaintiffs, telling the court that those listed in the suit had emerged winners at APC’s Benue primaries which it monitored but were illegally substituted.
The affidavit, deposed by Ayuba Mohammed of INEC’s litigation and prosecution department, argued that granting the plaintiffs’ application would serve the interest of justice and spare the commission “needless litigation arising from unjustified substitution of candidates.” INEC counsel Oluwole Olukunle told the court the commission is constitutionally bound to defend the integrity of the Constitution and the Electoral Act, and that parties, while free to nominate candidates of their choice, must do so within their own constitutions, INEC guidelines, and the law.
Olukunle’s submission distilled the commission’s broader philosophy: “The law now has long moved away from the era where political parties exercised unquestionable discretion in the selection and random/arbitrary substitution of candidates. Aspirants who emerge victorious at party primaries monitored by INEC automatically become candidates of the party at such elections.”

The Weight of Precedent

The plaintiffs’ position draws support from two Supreme Court authorities:
Abdulazeez v. Shittu (2023) 14 NWLR (Pt. 1904) 293 (SC) where it held that a claimant to a party’s candidacy must show he was an aspirant in an INEC-monitored primary in which he scored the highest votes.
Nongo v. Achado & Ors (2023) LPELR-60110(SC) wherein the court held that under Section 84(5)(c)(ii) of the Electoral Act 2022, a party is bound to forward the name of the aspirant with the highest votes to INEC, a duty that admits no discretion.

The Precedent That Cuts Both Ways: Machina v. Lawan (2023)

This is the case every lawyer in the dispute is watching, and it does not sit neatly on either side.
Bashir Machina won an INEC-monitored APC primary in Yobe North in 2022. The party nonetheless submitted Senate President Ahmad Lawan’s name instead, after Lawan lost the presidential primary and a second, uncancelled Senate primary was hastily organised to produce him. The Federal High Court and Court of Appeal both sided with Machina, but the Supreme Court reversed in a split decision of 3–2, not on the merits of who actually won, but on a procedural technicality: the majority held that Machina’s fraud allegations should have been filed by writ of summons rather than originating summons, since fraud requires oral evidence and cross-examination.
The two dissenting justices, Adamu Jauro and Emmanuel Agim, held that Machina was lawfully nominated, reasoning that the party’s second primary was an unlawful, uncancelled duplicate in breach of Section 285 of the Constitution.
For APC, the majority decision shows the Supreme Court has previously let a substitution stand over the will of a certified primary — on procedural grounds. If the current plaintiffs’ pleadings touch on “fraud” or bad faith by the NWC, APC’s lawyers will likely move to strike on the same originating-summons technicality that defeated Machina.
For the plaintiffs, the substantive reasoning in the Machina dissent — that a party cannot informally re-run or override a lawfully conducted, INEC-monitored primary was never rejected on the merits, only sidestepped procedurally. That reasoning, they argue, remains good law to build on.

What’s at Stake

Three threads converge here, and all three will shape how the litigation plays out:
The statutory question is whether an internal appeal-committee mechanism can lawfully stand in for the narrow death-or-withdrawal grounds Section 33 provides.
The procedural question is whether Machina-style technicalities over originating summons versus writ of summons will again decide a case on form rather than substance.
The institutional question is INEC’s unusually open alignment with the plaintiffs against a party it is meant to regulate neutrally, and what that signals for how the commission intends to police future substitutions ahead of 2027.
With an interim injunction in place and the substantive suit still to be heard, the APC’s candidate list for several National Assembly seats and possibly the broader question of how much discretion parties retain over their own primaries now rests with the Federal High Court.

News

Hon. Jafaru Yakubu Commends President Tinubu’s Approval of Mutum Biyu–Garba Chede Road Reconstruction

Published

58 minutes ago

August 20, 2026

Online Editor

Hon. Jafaru Yakubu, Member of the House of Representatives and Chairman, House Committee on Nigeria–China Friendship Group, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR for granting approval for the urgent rehabilitation and total reconstruction of the Mutum Biyu–Garba Chede Road, a 48km stretch in Taraba State.

Yakubu, who sponsored the motion in the House of Representatives calling for immediate intervention on the road, said the President’s approval is a bold and strategic response to the plight of commuters and communities along the corridor. He explained that the motion, which was debated and adopted by the House, underscored the dangers of continued neglect, including accidents, economic disruption, and the risk of total collapse.

He further acknowledged the National Security Adviser (NSA) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu for adopting a non-kinetic approach in addressing the crisis. According to Yakubu, the NSA’s intervention elevated the urgency of the project, treating infrastructure development as a vital instrument of peace, security, and stability. By drawing national attention to the road’s deterioration, the NSA highlighted the grave risks posed to lives, trade, agriculture, and access to healthcare.

The Mutum Biyu–Garba Chede Road, constructed in the early 1980s, has deteriorated severely due to age and lack of maintenance. With the collapse of the Namnai Bridge along the Jalingo–Wukari highway, the road became the sole alternative route for heavy-duty trucks, worsening its condition and exposing communities to untold hardship.

Hon. Yakubu assured his constituents that he will continue to work closely with the Federal Ministry of Works, FERMA, and the North East Development Commission to ensure the project’s swift execution. He emphasized that the House Committee on Works has already been mandated to conduct oversight and report back within four weeks, a step he believes will guarantee transparency and accountability in the delivery of the project.

“As Chairman of the Nigeria–China Friendship Group, I am deeply conscious of the importance of strategic partnerships in advancing national development. This reconstruction is not merely about infrastructure—it is about saving lives, strengthening commerce, and reaffirming government’s duty to serve its people. On behalf of my constituency, I extend profound gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR and the NSA for their steadfast commitment,” Yakubu declared.

The approval of this project, following Yakubu’s sponsored motion, is widely seen as a demonstration of leadership that listens and acts decisively. For communities in Mutum Biyu, Garba Chede, and adjoining areas, the reconstruction represents hope for safer travel, renewed economic activity, and restored dignity after years of neglect.

Analysts note that the development is not just about fixing a road but about reconnecting people, boosting agriculture, and reinforcing national cohesion at a time when infrastructure remains central to Nigeria’s growth agenda.

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Kaduna varsity lecturers ready for talks with govt to avert strike

Published

1 hour ago

August 20, 2026

Online editor

By Abigail David

The Kaduna State University chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities says it is ready for immediate negotiations with the Kaduna State Government to resolve the lingering issues threatening industrial harmony at the institution.

The Chairman of ASUU-KASU, Dr Abubakar Abdullahi, said this at a press conference on Thursday at the ASUU secretariat in Kaduna, stressing that the union was prepared to meet with the government at any time.

He said its priority was to find lasting solutions to the problems confronting the university.

He said, “Even if government calls us now, we are ready to move. Anything that will bring peace and stability to the system is what we want. Even if it is 3am, wherever we are, we are ready to go and engage and find solutions to the problems.”

Abdullahi explained that the two-week ultimatum issued by the union followed a directive from its national leadership, but expressed optimism that dialogue with the state government would yield concrete solutions before the expiration of the ultimatum.

He said the union was not interested in shutting down the university, noting that industrial action would negatively affect lecturers, students and the institution.

According to him, “We don’t want to go on strike. We don’t want to shut down the university because we know the implications. We want peace and stability in the university.”

The chairman identified the implementation and domestication of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement as the union’s major demand, saying the agreement was designed to address issues of staff welfare and conditions of service in Nigerian universities.

He said, “Our major concern is the implementation of the 2025 agreement. If the agreement is implemented, it will go a long way in addressing the welfare of our members and some of the challenges facing the university.”

Abdullahi recalled that the union had previously embarked on industrial action over 10 issues, adding that three had since been addressed by the authorities

He commended the authorities for resolving the three issues but said seven others remained outstanding, noting that the union had continued to pursue them through dialogue for nearly two years.

He said, “We have 10 issues that we raised before. Three have been addressed and we appreciate the government for that. But seven are still outstanding and we have been engaging for almost two years.”

The Press reports that the development followed the two-week ultimatum issued by ASUU-KASU amid concerns over the departure of academic staff from the university and the non-implementation of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement.

The union had warned that failure to address its demands could lead to a total and indefinite strike.

The union had also raised concerns over other unresolved matters, including university autonomy, excessive workload, promotion arrears, death benefits, group life insurance, wage awards and pension remittances.

The crisis came to the fore after ASUU-KASU alleged that more than 200 academic staff, including professors, had left the institution over poor conditions of service and failure to implement the 2025 agreement.

However, the Kaduna State Government, through the Principal Private Secretary to Governor Uba Sani, Prof Bello Ayuba, on Wednesday expressed its readiness to engage the union in dialogue to prevent a strike.

Ayuba, while addressing a press conference, urged ASUU-KASU to embrace dialogue and established channels of engagement, assuring that the government was committed to resolving the issues and avoiding disruption of academic activities.

Abdullahi urged the state government and other stakeholders to seize the opportunity for renewed engagement, assuring that the union would negotiate in good faith.

He said, “Anything that will bring peace and stability to the system, we are ready for it. We are ready to sit down with government and find solutions to these problems.”

The chairman appealed to the government to urgently address the outstanding demands, saying this would help restore confidence among academic staff and avert disruption of academic activities at KASU.

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AU, UN Seek Deeper Media Cooperation to Drive Africa-China Growth

Published

3 hours ago

August 20, 2026

micheal

By Michael Onjewu, Beijing

The African Union and the United Nations have called for deeper cooperation in the media and creative industries, saying stronger collaboration in content production, technology, professional exchanges and youth development can drive economic growth and strengthen people-to-people relations between Africa and China.

The call was made on Thursday at the opening ceremony of the 7th China-Africa Media Cooperation Forum in Beijing, attended by Chinese officials, African information ministers, journalists, media practitioners and members of the diplomatic community.

The forum, themed “Share Development Opportunities, Shape the Audio-Visual Future,” focuses on content innovation, cultural cooperation and technological development.

Speaking at the event, the African Union’s Permanent Representative to China, Alhaji Mohamed Sarjoh Bah, said the next phase of Africa-China media cooperation should focus on transforming the creative industries into engines of economic development, harnessing digital technology and artificial intelligence responsibly, and investing in human capital.

Bah said Africa’s creative industries should be treated as strategic sectors capable of creating jobs, attracting investment and stimulating innovation.

“Throughout history, stories have shaped civilisation. Today, the creative industries possess the power to connect cultures, create jobs, stimulate innovation and expand economic opportunity,” he said.

He urged Africa and China to move beyond traditional content exchanges and develop integrated value chains covering film production, broadcasting, animation, gaming, digital content and cultural entrepreneurship.

Bah also called for greater African ownership of the continent’s narratives, saying African stories should reflect its diversity, achievements, aspirations and realities.

“For too long, Africa has been viewed through lenses that do not reflect the aspirations, achievements and the realities of its people,” he said.

On technology, Bah urged both sides to harness artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and next-generation communication platforms while ensuring that innovation remains inclusive, ethical and people-centred.

“As we embrace artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, we must ensure they are guided by the principles of inclusivity, fairness, transparency and accountability,” the envoy said.

He called for stronger scholarship opportunities, collaboration among universities and research institutions, and mechanisms for knowledge transfer and skills development, describing Africa’s youthful population as a major strategic advantage.

“At the African Union, we firmly believe that empowering our youth is not merely a policy choice; it is a strategic necessity,” Bah said.

He urged the media to become a transformative force for development, solidarity and peace, rather than merely reflecting Africa-China relations.

UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, Ahunna Eziakonwa, said media professionals had a critical role in changing how Africa is perceived globally.

“Africa today is not a continent of scarcity. It is resource rich, it is idea rich, and above all, it is young,” she said.

Eziakonwa noted that by 2050, one in every four people globally would be African, with most under the age of 30. She said the continent’s young population was already creating, streaming and distributing content on a scale attracting growing global attention.

She cited Nollywood, Nairobi’s animation industry and productions emerging through Chinese partnerships as expressions of Africa’s creative economy and promising avenues for jobs, services trade and cultural exchange.

Eziakonwa urged African and Chinese broadcasters to co-create rather than merely transmit content, while encouraging young filmmakers to train together and apply technologies such as artificial intelligence to African languages and contexts.

“When African broadcasters and Chinese counterparts co-create rather than merely transmit, when young filmmakers train together, when new technologies, including artificial intelligence, are put to work in African languages and African contexts, we’re not simply exchanging content,” she said.

She noted that such cooperation represented an investment in Africa’s “narrative sovereignty” and the aspirations of Agenda 2063.

Delivering the keynote address, Cao Shumin, Deputy Head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of the National Radio and Television Administration, called for stronger two-way media cooperation between China and Africa.

Cao said China-Africa media cooperation had developed over the years and contributed to advancing people-to-people bonds through high-quality content.

She called for greater two-way screening and content exchange, as well as stronger focus on technological development and the use of emerging technologies to improve media production.

Cao also urged China and Africa to consolidate their friendship through high-quality and more efficient media content, while expanding exchange programmes for journalists, broadcasters, producers and other media professionals.

She advocated regular professional exchanges to build stronger networks and create opportunities for long-term cooperation.

Cao noted that China and Africa had already co-produced a number of audiovisual contents and called for the partnership to expand into new areas, including artificial intelligence and AI-generated content, as both sides pursue common development.

The 7th China-Africa Media Cooperation Forum also features the China-Africa Audio-Visual Programme Exchange, the China-Africa Audio-Visual Youth Cooperation Initiative and a China visit programme for African media practitioners.

The activities are expected to strengthen professional exchanges, content cooperation and interaction among young media practitioners while using radio, television and audiovisual media to deepen China-Africa people-to-people ties and support economic and trade development.