Fresh confusion engulfed the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State on Thursday following the abrupt postponement of its governorship primary election.
The decision came while voting activities and mobilisation efforts were already underway in several parts of the state.
The sudden postponement came barely hours after party members trooped out in large numbers for the exercise.
The development came just days after the party dramatically reversed the mass disqualification of House of Assembly aspirants ahead of the 2027 elections.
On Wednesday, the party had sparked outrage after screening out over 100 Assembly aspirants seeking tickets into the Kwara State House of Assembly.
Reports showed that between 105 and 113 aspirants were initially declared “uncleared,” leaving only about 50 aspirants approved to contest.
The controversial screening exercise affected several serving lawmakers and triggered anxiety across APC ranks, with many stakeholders alleging an attempt to impose preferred candidates ahead of the primaries.
However, in a dramatic U-turn on Wednesday, the party released a fresh list clearing all 159 aspirants, including Speaker Yakubu Danladi-Salihu whose name was initially absent from the process.
There are insinuations that Thursday’s postponement of the governorship primary is part of broader efforts by the party leadership to manage growing internal tensions ahead of the crucial contest.
In a statement issued Thursday afternoon by the APC State Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Abdulwaheed Olawale Babatunde, the party announced that the governorship primary earlier scheduled for May 21 had been shifted to Friday, May 22, 2026.
“The APC Governorship Primary earlier scheduled to hold today, Thursday, 21st May 2026, has been postponed,” the statement read.
Ironically, Babatunde had told Daily Trust on telephone that the exercise will hold Thursday morning
“As I speak with you, I am going to the wards for the monitoring of the governorship primaries today.
“As far as the party is concerned, nobody has stepped down for anyone and the 16 aspirants are going into the contest.
“However, if there are any issues of stepping down, that may be the internal arrangement of the aspirants, not to the knowledge of the party”, he said.
The abrupt announcement created uncertainty among party members already gathered at several wards across the state, especially as voting activities and mobilisation efforts had commenced before the postponement notice filtered through.
Confirming the intervention, Kwara APC chairman, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, disclosed that the directive came directly from the party’s national leadership.
“We don’t have details for the cancellation other than the fact that the team from the national office came and instructed that the election will be held tomorrow,” he said.
The postponement came a few hours after reports of some aspirants stepping down for Ambassador Yahaya Seriki, the governor’s preferred aspirant.
Despite the postponement, voting activities and political mobilisation had already gained momentum in several wards across the state.
At Adewole Ward, the political base of Governor AbdulRazaq in Ilorin, party members turned out massively in what many described as a show of support for the governor’s political structure.
The APC chairman in the ward, Mallam Suleiman Nuhu Amunutuka, described the process as peaceful and orderly, insisting that the governor remained best positioned to determine who succeeds him in order to sustain the administration’s achievements.
