Primary elections wrapped up over the weekend, but winners still don't know their fate. Party headquarters across the country are holding back final approval of candidates.
Aspirants who won at various levels haven't received certificates of return or party flags yet. National Working Committees must rubber-stamp all results before tickets are issued to anyone.
Only then will names go to the Independent National Electoral Commission for the general election contests. So far, no major party has handed out these documents to primary winners in their states.
Complaints have piled up at the All Progressives Congress, African Democratic Congress, and Nigeria Democratic Congress. Party insiders say the NWCs are using their power to review results before final announcement.
INEC's 2027 election timetable gave parties until May 30 to wrap up primaries and settle disputes. That deadline falls on non-working days, so officials expect loose ends to be tied quickly.
Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, APC national chairman, made the party's position crystal clear recently. He said state chapters and electoral committees have zero authority to announce primary winners.
Only the NWC can ratify and officially declare results, according to him. All processes from across the country must reach party headquarters in Abuja for final verification, he noted.
"The states cannot announce winners until the NWC gives its verdict," Yilwatda told a live television interviewer. He emphasized that recognition of any winner depends entirely on the national body's decision.
Nick Dazang, a former INEC commissioner, offered a different perspective when we reached him. He said parties are correct only if their own constitutions actually require NWC approval of primary results.
INEC's role stops at observation, Dazang explained. Whether parties violated their own rules depends on what their governing documents actually say, he added.
Party sources told our reporters that APC final candidate lists should drop any moment now. All state results have already been sent to the party's national office in Abuja.
Controversy marked several primary elections across different states, sources revealed. Many aspirants claimed electoral committees simply fabricated the figures they announced.
That's why the NWC decided to step in and review everything themselves. The committee wants to sort out which results are legitimate before making anything official.
