The controversy over who will fly the flag of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in various elective positions in Benue State in the 2027 general elections has exposed deep fault lines within the ruling party and raised fundamental questions about the sanctity of party primaries. Earlier this year, both chambers of the National Assembly passed the Electoral Act 2026, which subsequently received presidential assent. Section 84(2) provides that political parties must nominate candidates for elective positions through direct primaries or consensus, and that the written consent of all aspirants must back any legitimate consensus. Against that legal backdrop, the APC conducted direct primaries across Benue between May 16 and May 23, 2026, after an earlier attempt to secure acceptance for what was described as automatic tickets failed.
Yet, the primaries did little to heal the long-standing divisions within the Benue APC. The party remains sharply divided between the camp of Governor Hyacinth Alia and that of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume. The division is reflected in the parallel loyalties surrounding the party’s state chairmanship, with the Akume camp retaining allegiance to Austin Agada. At the same time, the APC National Working Committee (NWC) works with Benjamin Omale, regarded as loyal to the governor. Despite reconciliation efforts, the old wound has continued to fester. At a peace meeting ahead of the primaries, Senator Akume reportedly dangled the prospect of automatic tickets, but the proposal was rejected. Direct primaries subsequently proceeded under committees constituted by the NWC. The results, however, have been rejected by some aspirants loyal to the Akume camp, particularly in the State Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate and governorship contests, with allegations including diversion of electoral materials. Some political heavyweights who had been part of the contest, including Prof. Sebastine Hon, SAN, Dr. Mathias Byuan and Aondona Dajoh, eventually crossed to other parties and are now preparing to contest the 2027 elections under the SDP, Labour Party and PDP respectively.
At the heart of the controversy is a deceptively simple question: What happens to the outcome of a primary election once it has been conducted, results declared, and the process subjected to the party’s internal mechanisms? Various committees constituted by the APC NWC conducted the Benue primaries at ward headquarters, collated the results, and declared them. Those dissatisfied with the process were allowed to approach the party’s appeal committees. APC State Publicity Secretary, Yawe Benedict, has maintained that aggrieved aspirants should utilise those mechanisms. Legal practitioners, however, argue that neither the National Executive Council nor any national leader of a political party possesses the power to arbitrarily invalidate, alter or modify the result of a valid primary election. Senior lawyer and APC chieftain Terfa Jirgba told TNT that the power to determine the validity of an election ultimately rests with the courts, particularly where an aspirant can demonstrate substantial violations of the law or the party’s constitution. He argued that where accreditation, voting and collation have taken place, and INEC has monitored the exercise, changing the result becomes legally difficult. In his view, substitution ordinarily arises from circumstances such as death, infirmity or incapacitation, rather than simply because a different political arrangement has subsequently emerged.
The uncertainty has nevertheless deepened because the outcome of the appeals lodged against the Benue primaries has not been publicly released. Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act 2026 requires political parties to submit candidates’ particulars not later than 120 days before an election. With the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, 2027, and the governorship and State Assembly elections for February 6, 2027, the clock is already ticking. The law expressly recognises direct primaries and consensus as nomination methods, but is silent on the concept of an automatic ticket.
Sam Agwa, Convener of the Benue Open Governance Society, therefore argues that where there was no consensus, direct primaries were the lawful alternative and that this was precisely what took place in Benue. Jirgba, however, stresses that the NWC is responsible for examining the primary election committees’ reports alongside INEC’s reports before issuing certificates of return and, where necessary, ordering a fresh primary.
Kamo Sende, a doctoral researcher at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, has raised an even more fundamental jurisprudential question: If an aspirant publicly insists that no primary took place, did not participate, see electoral materials or vote, can that same person subsequently claim a ticket arising from the very process whose existence he denied? And can a political party, consistent with the law, adopt a nomination procedure unknown to the Electoral Act?
The controversy has now moved beyond political rhetoric into the courtroom. On July 21, 2026, the Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice I. E. Ekwo, ordered the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to maintain the status quo in a suit challenging alleged substitution of winners of the Benue APC primaries. The order followed an application by Engr. Sesugh Kaba seeking, among other reliefs, to restrain the APC from substituting candidates who emerged from the primaries monitored by INEC. The case was adjourned to August 27 for hearing. The significance of the order lies in preserving the existing position while the court considers the substantive dispute. It also reinforces the argument that the final word on disputed nominations may not belong to party leaders or political camps but to the judiciary. The development is particularly noteworthy in light of the August 5 Federal High Court judgment affirming Abdulghani Arobo as the APC candidate for Owo/Ose Federal Constituency in Ondo State after the court found that he had lawfully won the party primary. Justice Peter Lifu ordered the APC and INEC to recognise Arobo, who polled the highest lawful votes, and nullified competing nominations. For Jirgba, the decision is a “bad omen” for those whose alleged victories came from “Abuja” rather than from the ballot at the primaries.
The governorship ticket presents a somewhat different picture. Amid growing anxiety over whether Governor Hyacinth Alia would appear on the APC ticket, Jirgba has maintained that the governor’s position is settled. According to him, the APC NWC has already declared Alia the winner of the governorship primary and subsequently asked him to nominate his running mate, leading to the selection of Barrister Sam Ode. Jirgba said an affidavit filed by the APC in an Abuja suit expressly listed Alia among those who emerged from the Benue primaries, meaning that both sides in that particular case were, on the face of the documents, in agreement that the governor won the governorship primary. However, Alia is not a party to the suit. He consequently argued that the current litigation concerns alleged substitutions involving other candidates and not the governor’s ticket. That distinction is important because the controversy has sometimes been presented as a direct contest between the governor and the SGF’s political camp. Jirgba himself cautioned against such a characterisation, insisting that Alia was also an aspirant in the primary process and that the dispute should be viewed through the prism of law and procedure rather than personalised as an “Alia thing.”
Ultimately, the APC’s Benue dilemma is bigger than the ambitions of individual politicians. It is a test of whether political parties can conduct internal elections in accordance with the law and then respect the outcomes, or whether political negotiations after the ballot can supersede the ballot itself. The party may yet resolve the matter internally. Still, the existing court actions suggest that the judiciary will eventually be asked to determine the validity of the process and the legitimacy of candidates submitted to INEC.
Benue has been here before: Disputes arising from the 2023 direct primaries travelled through the courts up to the Supreme Court. The emerging lesson is that political parties can negotiate, leaders can persuade, aspirants can protest, and national bodies can issue directives. Still, none of these can permanently extinguish a lawful judicial remedy. For now, therefore, the status quo remains. The real contest may not only be about who wins the 2027 election, but about who is legally entitled to stand on the starting line.
