Ahead of Thursday’s governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress, resistance to consensus arrangements has intensified in at least 10 states, as several aspirants rejected pressure to step down and insisted on testing their popularity at the polls.
The growing pushback comes despite efforts by party leaders and governors in many states to streamline the primaries through endorsements, negotiations, and consensus agreements aimed at avoiding divisive contests ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Investigations by The PUNCH showed that while incumbent governors in several APC-controlled states have successfully secured consensus backing for second-term tickets, succession battles in states such as Kwara, Gombe, Oyo, Adamawa, Bauchi, Plateau, Lagos, Nasarawa, Rivers, and Yobe remain fiercely contested.
The APC had fixed the cost of its governorship expression of interest form at N10m and nomination form at N40m. Findings indicated that the ruling party generated about N5.05bn from the sale of forms to 101 governorship aspirants nationwide.
The party is scheduled to conduct governorship primaries in 28 states on Thursday, May 21, with direct primaries to be adopted in states where consensus arrangements fail. Appeals arising from the exercises are expected to be heard on May 24.
Consensus gains ground
Despite growing internal resistance in some chapters, no fewer than 11 governors and sole aspirants have already secured overwhelming backing from party structures.
Among those who emerged as consensus candidates are Governors Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Abba Yusuf (Kano), Peter Mbah (Enugu), Umar Namadi (Jigawa), Dikko Radda (Katsina), Nasir Idris (Kebbi), Ahmed Aliyu (Sokoto), Dauda Lawal (Zamfara), Mohammed Umar Bago (Niger), Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), and Ogbonna Nwifuru (Ebonyi).
