Beginning in April, major opposition groups in the nation anticipate widespread defections from the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A story published by The Sun claims that the defections will result from primaries that will be held in the nation’s 36 State Houses of Assembly, 109 Senate districts, and 360 federal constituencies.
Lawmakers who want return tickets are concerned that their state governors would work against them because the new Electoral Act eliminates indirect primaries.
In front of the 2027 elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has already published an updated election schedule. Additionally, the different political parties will hold primaries.
According to several state and national assembly members who intend to rejoin the legislature, recent defections by opposition governors to the ruling APC would be a major challenge to them, according to the aforementioned source.
The lawmakers, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed that the governors who joined the APC insisted on fielding candidates ahead of the upcoming general elections without consulting anyone they encountered within the party.
One of the Delta State lawmakers informed the publication that the governors’ willingness to let the APC and President Bola Tinubu choose their own flag bearers for the upcoming general elections was one of the terms of their negotiations.
Some governors, he claimed, insisted on putting in new candidates, mostly from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but were unwilling to make room for the APC members they had met when they left the party.
The irate APC members, he added, have begun negotiations with the PDP, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and the Labour Party (LP) to make accommodations and provide them with return tickets to parliament so they won’t be taken off guard.
The political party structures in each state are under the authority of the governors. Nearly every governor from the PDP has switched to the APC as of right now. They arrived with their own alliances and systems. Regretfully, the governors have already made arrangements with President Tinubu and the APC leadership to permit them to field candidates for the general elections that would take place the following year.
We are aware that some of us will not receive the tickets. Negotiations with the PDP, ADC, and LP are our only choice. One of the lawmakers said, “Hopefully, we will use our popularity to campaign and hope that we win our re-elections next year.”
With the goal of minimizing major defections, the APC intends to hold its primaries for the National and State Houses of Assembly close to the end of the timeframe that INEC has allowed.
According to an APC source, candidates who are rejected for tickets will not be able to defect and obtain tickets from the opposition parties before the end of May if the plan is carried out.
