…Orders candidates to submit list to national secretariat amid sabotage fears

Indications have emerged that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has directed candidates of the party to submit the names of their proposed party agents directly to the national secretariat as part of a move to prevent possible sabotage during the 2027 general elections.

The Guardian gathered that the move was designed to ensure that the party safeguards its electoral victory by bypassing state chapters that traditionally handle such submissions.

The directive, which represented departure from the party’s established protocol, is understood to be part of strategy to prevent possible sabotage on election day by governors suspected of working against the party’s interests.

Multiple sources within the party hierarchy confirmed that the decision was taken after intelligence suggested that some state governors were allegedly orchestrating a scheme to install loyalists as APC polling agents while simultaneously financing candidates on opposition platforms.

The arrangement, according to sources, is being applied primarily in states where the NWC suspects governors of sponsoring candidates on the platforms of other political parties against APC candidates in the 2027 elections.

The development followed allegations by a South-West group, the Oodua Progressive Youths League, which claimed that some governors whose preferred aspirants lost the party’s National Assembly primaries directed them to seek tickets from opposition parties and contest against APC candidates.

According to a statement signed by the group’s General Secretary, Wale Abdulwaheed, the governors had also allegedly reached agreements with some opposition parties on the selection of polling agents for the elections, with plans to submit the names of their loyalists, who remain APC members, as the ruling party’s officially recognized agents in their respective states.

A member of the National Assembly from Ondo State, who is also an APC candidate for the 2027 elections, confirmed the development but requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

He stated that the APC NWC had bypassed the governor of Ondo State and directed candidates to submit the names of their agents directly to the national secretariat, with the forms for the agents already in the candidates’ possession.

“The National body instructed the State Chairman to give us our forms directly, and the chairman himself alluded that he was under instruction not to hand over the agents’ forms to anyone except the candidates. He confirmed that Ondo State was specifically told to follow that route,” the source said.

He added that the party’s national leadership was monitoring the activities of APC governors across the country and might adopt a similar approach when disbursing election funds, potentially bypassing governors suspected of sponsoring opposition candidates and channelling election funds directly to APC candidates in their states to prevent possible sabotage.

“It is not hidden that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa directed some of the aspirants who contested the APC primaries but lost to seek tickets on other political platforms and contest against the party’s candidates.

“The evidence is there. We all saw some of his political appointees, including party executive members, at the declaration of Hon. Matthew Oyerinmade (MATO) for the PDP, the platform on which he has now emerged as the party’s candidate for the Ondo South Senatorial District.

“We also know that the governor is the financier of Prince Idowu Mafimisebi, who is contesting for the Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency seat on the PDP platform.

“Recently, when Hon. Tajudeen Adefisoye, popularly known as Small Alhaji, who is now the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate for the Idanre/Ifedore Federal Constituency, held a rally in Idanre Local Government Area, the majority of the SSAs and SAs recently appointed by the governor from the area were physically present.

“So, how do you expect the party to trust such a governor to work for its success in the 2027 general elections?” the lawmaker alleged.

Aiyedatiwa has, however, denied directing any aspirant or candidate to contest against APC candidates on the platform of another political party, describing those accusing him of anti-party activities as “naysayers, blackmailers, and slanderers.”

The governor said, “I have zero tolerance for anti-party activities. I have never engaged in anti-party activities in my life.”