President Bola Tinubu secured a landslide victory at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary held last Saturday, positioning him as the party’s undisputed flagbearer for the 2027 general election.
The President, who contested the APC ticket against sole challenger Stanley Osifo, won overwhelmingly in polling units across the country, with Osifo recording zero or negligible votes in several areas.
However, dramatic scenes unfolded in the polling unit of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu. Kalu, a strong supporter of Tinubu, was seen holding the President’s banner with other supporters queuing behind him.
Before voting commenced, Kalu publicly acknowledged Tinubu as his preferred candidate. As the counting began, he instructed officials not to use the microphone for the vote tally. The count started normally but soon jumped dramatically. It reportedly moved from 100 to 1,000 without a corresponding number of voters being counted, before surging further to 7,000.
Meanwhile, APC leaders and stakeholders converged on Sunday at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja for the final collation of results from the presidential primary. Party officials are expected to formally declare Tinubu the winner and present him with the Certificate of Return as the APC’s presidential candidate for the 2027 general election.