A thick blanket of political anxiety has settled over the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as a protracted deadlock continues to stall the official release of the party’s final list of candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.
While the presidential primary that ratified the candidacy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term has long been settled, the party’s national hierarchy is yet to publish the authenticated list of standard-bearers across the 109 senatorial districts, 360 federal constituencies, the various state Houses of Assembly, and the contested governorship seats.
The APC national chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, who has come under intense pressure from aggrieved aspirants and party stakeholders, publicly acknowledged the delay recently when he told protesters who stormed the party secretariat in Abuja that a final decision on candidates who emerged from the nationwide primaries had not yet been taken.
He explained that petitions and appeal reports were still being reviewed by the party’s legal department and the National Working Committee (NWC) before any list could be forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“The process is not completed until all appeal reports are reviewed. We are awaiting the legal department’s report, after which the National Working Committee will take the necessary decisions in line with due process,” Yilwatda stated, adding that no list of candidates would be submitted to INEC until the reviews were fully concluded.
However, inside sources within the party’s national secretariat told Daily Sun that the administrative delay masks a far more combustible political reality.
Findings by Daily Sun reveal that the stalemate is rooted in unresolved disputes between competing power blocs, each seeking to influence the final composition of the candidates’ list before it is transmitted to INEC.
Serving governors, who have traditionally exercised considerable authority over their respective state chapters, are spearheading a formidable lobbying campaign alongside the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Their core objective is to ensure that the original lists of candidates generated from their states are retained without alteration or substitution by the NWC.
The governors are aware that their political survival and relevance in the post-election dispensation depend entirely on embedding loyalists within both the legislative and executive arms of government.
Simultaneously, a separate influential group of power brokers operating at the edges of the seat of power has launched a counter-offensive, negotiating with the party’s national leadership to secure prime tickets for preferred candidates.
Prominent amongst those pulling strings behind the scenes are elements loyal to the President himself, influential figures allied with the First Lady, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila and a prominent federal lawmaker, James Faleke.
The inner circle, Daily Sun gathered, is leveraging its proximity to the presidency to insulate favoured candidates from administrative filtering and to compel the national leadership to give their chosen aspirants the final nod.
The tension is further compounded by a landmark court ruling earlier this month in which Justice M. G. Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja nullified key portions of INEC’s timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 elections.
The court, ruling in a suit filed by the Youth Party, held that INEC had exceeded its powers by shortening timelines expressly provided under the Electoral Act 2026.
The judgment confirmed that political parties are entitled to submit the particulars of candidates not later than 120 days before an election, withdraw and substitute candidates up to 90 days before polling, and that INEC cannot publish final candidates lists earlier than the minimum 60-day period prescribed by law.
The ruling has effectively given the APC more room to manoeuvre but has also removed any urgency that a tight INEC deadline might otherwise have imposed.
“The special committees and appeal panels empanelled to receive petitions and adjudicate over grievances arising from the volatile primaries have officially concluded their assignments and submitted their reports to the party leadership.
“The NWC is currently in the final stage of reviewing these reports, a process that party officials describe as hyper-sensitive. Any perceived partiality, administrative oversight, or arbitrary substitution of names risks igniting a wave of pre-election litigations, parallel party structures, and internal rebellion capable of undermining the party’s prospects at the polls,” a top APC official who is familiar with the ongoing developments, told Daily Sun.
Contrary to speculations circulating widely on social media and in political circles, another source told Daily Sun that the APC is yet to transmit any list of candidates to INEC.
Party statutes strictly require that an internal publication of authenticated names be officially communicated to stakeholders before any formal transmission to the electoral umpire can take place.
“The leadership is treading cautiously, aware that a premature submission that ignores unresolved internal disputes could prove politically catastrophic,” the source added.
To break the impasse, the party’s highest decision-makers have resorted to late-night consultations with President Tinubu to determine his position on specific flashpoint states and key candidate selections where the presidency is understood to maintain a personal or geopolitical interest, Daily Sun gathered.
The meetings, which sources describe as continuing, reflect the scale of the competing pressures bearing down on the national leadership as it attempts to produce a final list that is defensible to all stakeholders.
As the waiting game drags on, hundreds of thousands of anxious aspirants, party members, and political actors across the 36 states remain in a state of uncertainty.
The prolonged silence from Abuja continues to fuel speculation, deepen internal animosities, and severely test the fragile unity of a party navigating one of the most consequential pre-election periods in its history.
With the countdown to the 2027 general elections entering its most critical phase, the pressure on the APC to act decisively has never been greater.