APC Faces Looming Legal Storm Over Delayed Senatorial Primary Results – Ekene Aninze Esq.

APC may have just plunged itself into a self-inflicted legal crisis ahead of the 2027 general elections, by embarking on a dangerous path that even INEC, with all its perceived boldness, would be cautious to tread.
As the saying goes, too much of everything is bad. What is currently unfolding within the ruling party appears to be a classic case of excessive political manipulation that could leave APC battling endless litigation at a very critical period before the next elections.
The controversy reportedly began with the party selling nomination forms to several aspirants who, according to insiders, were never intended to survive the screening process. After generating massive revenue from the exercise, APC allegedly proceeded to disqualify nearly one-third of the aspirants, apparently under the assumption that many of them lacked the political standing or resources to challenge the outcome in court.
However, the bigger crisis now appears to be the handling of the Senatorial primaries conducted nationwide.
For nearly 48 hours, APC has reportedly failed to officially announce the results of the Senate primary elections held across the country. The delay has triggered growing suspicion and outrage among party faithful and aspirants.
According to party insiders, APC had earlier constituted Electoral Committees in line with its Constitution and nomination guidelines to oversee the conduct of the primaries on Monday. Surprisingly, on the eve of the exercise, the party allegedly issued a memo stripping those committees of the authority to announce results unless such outcomes were first vetted and approved in Abuja.
Political observers have since questioned the logic behind empowering committees to conduct elections while simultaneously denying them the authority to declare the winners of the process they supervised.
Reports indicate that the Electoral Committees completed their assignments nationwide, but the party leadership has continued to withhold the results, fueling allegations that alternative outcomes are being allegedly “perfected” behind closed doors before public declaration.
Legal analysts warn that the implications of such actions could be devastating for the ruling party itself.
Aggrieved aspirants, including those who may have genuinely lost at the polls, are now believed to have strong grounds to challenge the process in court — not necessarily on the basis of victory claims, but on whether APC complied with its own constitutional provisions, nomination guidelines, and the Electoral Act.
At the center of the looming legal battle are provisions said to be contained in Article 20.4 of the APC Constitution and Section 9(ii)(e) of the party’s nomination guidelines, which reportedly mandate that primary election results must be declared at the venue of the election by the Electoral Committee Chairman who supervised the exercise.
Should the disputes get before the courts, analysts believe the focus may shift away from who won or lost, to whether due process was followed at all.
Political watchers say the development could become a major distraction for APC ahead of the 2027 elections, especially if multiple court cases emerge simultaneously across different states and constituencies.
Sometimes, regardless of how sophisticated a political strategy may appear, it becomes impossible to outsmart everyone all the time.