APC National Youth Vanguard has warned the party’s National Working Committee over the illegal substitutions of National Assembly candidates for the 2027 general elections across the country.
The ruling party’s youth advocacy group which warned the party leadership in Abuja over the move through a press statement signed by its National coordinator, Mr. Gbenga Ojo said that the action will make Nigerians to lose trust in the party
According to the group, those who were declared winners of the APC primary elections at all levels should be recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission as well as the National Working Committee led by the party’s National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwadta.
The group stated that altering the candidates list may spell doom for the party in the general elections as the crisis which the action will generate will be irreconcilable.
The group also stated that it is unconstitutional for the party’s National Working Committee to think that it could do such substitution of an exercise which was duly monitored by INEC through a purported appeal committee.
According to the group, such substitution is null and avoid and won’t see the light of the day as genuine members of the All Progressive Congress across the country will kick against it.
The group which warned the National Working Committee against the substitution stated that the action would amount to a brazen subversion of the democratic will expressed by party members who elected their preferred candidates during the last primaries.
The group further stated that the action is just a breach of the principles of fair hearing which tends to expose the party to avoidable litigation, candidate disqualification, and severe reputational damage.
“Critically, the INEC Revised Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2027 General Election expressly provides that the Conduct of Party Primaries, including resolution of disputes arising from the Primaries, must run from 23rd April, 2026 to 30th May, 2026.
“Any purported appeal or resolution after this cutoff date is inconsistent with the official timetable and cannot lawfully form the basis for substituting candidates whose names were already submitted following INEC-monitored primaries. The NWC’s post-30th May actions directly violate this binding schedule” the statement reads in parts.
The group however urged the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to reject candidates that do not emerge from the primaries which the commission personally monitored in May, 2026..
According to the group, INEC is the only hope for candidates that were illegally removed from the authentic candidates list across the country.