Yesterday, President Bola Tinubu won the presidential primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in style.
In the party’s direct primaries requiring all registered members to participate, Tinubu amassed 10,999,162 votes while Mr Stanley Osifo, his lone challenger, trailed distantly with 16,503 votes.
If the president can get about 11m votes from registered APC members, his camp boasted last night that he will get more from over 100m expected to be registered as voters by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the 2027 general polls.
In 2023, the APC claimed that it had over 41 million registered members. However, at the poll proper, Tinubu scored 8,794,753 votes, which means, excluding other Nigerians, more than 80 per cent of APC members did not vote for him.
Looking at the figures, if APC had over 41 million members in 2023 but now has 12.6m members after recent waves of defections into it from opposition parties, it means those in charge have a lot of questions to answer.
In a chat with journalists recently, APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda admitted that were glitches in the party’s online registration process in 2023 and now the matter had been addressed.
Tinubu’s presidential primaries victory, dress rehearsal for 2027 — Yilwatda
With excitement, Yilwatda boasted that Tinubu would record a resounding victory on January 16, 2027 and retain his seat for another four years giving what transpired at the presidential primaries across the country.,
He dismissed criticisms trailing its nationwide primaries, describing the exercise, especially Saturday’s presidential primaries as a “dress rehearsal” for victory in the 2027 general elections.
According to Yilwatda, the massive turnout across the country foretells what Nigerians should expect at the polls, boasting that no rival party could match the ruling party’s strength.
“If you see the turnout on Saturday, the numbers ran into thousands. This is only a mock demonstration of what the general election will look like. No political party can showcase one-tenth of what we presented,” he said.
Yilwatda also dismissed viral videos alleging irregularities in vote counting, describing them as recycled and misattributed clips unrelated to APC activities.
“Most of those videos are unverified and not from our processes. You won’t see APC banners, flags or membership identification in them. Some are from entirely different events,” he added.
As it is, he continued, the APC had become the political platform of choice, with Nigerians across party lines scrambling to join.
“The APC is now the rallying point. The competition to belong is very high, and thousands are buying nomination forms. That shows growing acceptance nationwide,” he said.
Looking at the results of the primaries released by the chairman of the committee, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, the president made massive inroads in South-East and South-South, where he performed poorly in 2023. He also got more support in the North-East
In 2023, Tinubu got a miserly 127,605 votes from the five South-East states. At the presidential primaries, the figure sky-rocked to 1,377,960 with Governor Hope Uzodimma’s Imo State providing over 582,000(see table).
In the South-South, the president garnered 799,957 votes in 2023 compared to 1,539,126 votes he got at the primaries. And in the North-East, the figure rose from 1,185,458 in 2023 to 2,103,697.
Conversely, Tinubu’s support base in his native South-West appears to have plummeted. He got 1,648,451 votes at the primaries compared to the 2,279,407 votes he got in 2023.
The pattern of support in North-West and North-Central does not appear strikingly different.
How Tinubu performed in APC 2026 presidential primaries
North-West
Kaduna — 618,914
Kano — 500,852
Katsina — 467,003
Kebbi — 292,972
Jigawa — 206,520
Sokoto — 301,000
Zamfara — 321,579
Sub-total— 2,708,840
North-East
Adamawa — 644,149
Bauchi — 156,541
Borno — 414,988
Gombe — 450,517
Taraba — 183,698
Yobe — 253,804
Sub-total 2,103,697
North-Central
Benue — 374,787
Kogi — 197,370
Kwara — 310,990
Nasarawa — 285,436
Niger — 175,487
Plateau — 241,720
FCT — 36,103
Sub-total— 1,621,893
South-West
Ekiti — 85,340
Lagos — 814,988
Ogun — 322,485
Ondo — 181,996
Osun — 100,888
Oyo — 142,754
Sub-total—1,648,451
South-East
Abia — 161,005
Anambra — 43,034
Ebonyi — 207,579
Enugu — 383,382
Imo — 582,960
Sub-total— 1,377,960
South-South
Akwa Ibom — 389,197
Bayelsa — 227,192
Cross River — 113,911
Delta — 407,646
Edo — 121,098
Rivers — 280,082
Sub-total — 1,539,126
Grand Total—
10,999,967 votes
How Tinubu fared in 2023 presidential election as declared by INEC
North-West
Jigawa — 421,390
Kaduna — 399,293
Kano — 517,341
Katsina — 482,283
Kebbi — 248,088
Sokoto — 285,444
Zamfara — 298,396
Sub total— 2,652,235
North-East
Adamawa — 182,881
Bauchi — 316,694
Borno — 252,282
Gombe — 146,977
Taraba — 135,165
Yobe — 151,459
Sub.total-1,185,458
North-Central
Benue — 310,468
Kogi — 240,751
Kwara — 263,572
Nasarawa — 172,922
Niger — 375,183
Plateau — 307,195
FCT, Abuja —90,902
Sub.total—1,670,091
South-West
Ekiti — 201,494
Lagos — 572,606
Ogun — 341,554
Ondo — 369,924
Osun — 343,945
Oyo — 449,884
Sub. total— 2,279,407
South-South
Akwa Ibom — 160,620
Bayelsa — 42,572
Cross River — 130,520
Delta — 90,183
Edo — 144,471
Rivers — 231,591
Sub. total —799,957
South-East
Abia — 8,914
Anambra — 5,111
Ebonyi — 42,402
Enugu — 4,772
Imo — 66,406
Sub. total — 127,605
Grand Total— 8,794,753
Hurdles before Tinubu
To replicate the outcome of the presidential primaries and turn it into a success in 2027, the APC may have a lot of work in the North-West and South-West.
Incidentally, both zones command the highest number of voters in the country.
It also has to contend with the opposition being mounted by former Anambra State Governor and 2023 Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.
Obi, the only aspirant of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, is expected to pick former Kano State Governor, Senator Musa Kwankwaso, a move his supporters said would galvanize northern votes.
Apart from, the African Democratic Congress, ADC, will make a pick among former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; former Rivers State Governor Mr Rotimi Amaechi; and Economist, Mohammed Hayattu-Deen, today.
The other potential opponents include former President Good luck Jonathan of the People’s Democratic Party,PDP; Prince Adewolu Adebayo of Social Democratic Party, SDP; Dr Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim of Accord; Mr Donald Duke of People’s Redemption Party, PRP; Sandy On or(PDP); and Peter Agada(LP) among others.
Whether or not Tinubu will scale the hurdles is a question of time.
