APC Faces Court Challenges Over Revised INEC List for 2027

All Progressives Congress aspirants who were excluded from or saw their names altered on the party’s revised list of National Assembly candidates submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission dragged the party to court over the weekend, adding fresh legal complications to the ruling party’s already turbulent preparations for the 2027 general elections.

Vanguard reported that a storm was brewing within the APC over the revised candidate list, with aspirants in multiple states alleging that names had been substituted, removed, or altered without due process. Some affected aspirants said their names, having been duly declared winners at primaries, were replaced with individuals who had either not contested or had lost in the original exercises.

Court Filings Mount Against APC

Legal suits challenging the revised INEC list were filed in Federal High Courts in Abuja and several state capitals over the weekend. The plaintiffs argued that the APC’s submission to INEC of names other than those produced by legitimate primary outcomes violated Section 84 of the Electoral Act, which required parties to conduct primaries and submit the results to INEC as the basis of their candidate lists.

APC national secretariat officials said the party was reviewing the complaints and would respond through its internal dispute resolution mechanisms and through appropriate legal channels. A party chieftain who asked not to be named told Vanguard the disputes were an expected feature of any large competitive party but acknowledged they needed to be resolved quickly to prevent damage to the party’s 2027 campaign.

Opposition Parties Watch with Interest

Opposition parties, including the ADC, PDP, and NDC, said the APC’s candidate list controversies confirmed their earlier arguments that the ruling party was incapable of running credible internal democratic processes. They said the court cases would delay and complicate the party’s formal 2027 preparations, creating opportunities for opposition recruitment of disaffected APC members. Furthermore, the INEC access code deadline of July 11 was adding time pressure to the resolution of the disputes. Consequently, the APC faces a crucial test of its internal governance capacity in the coming days as the 2027 electoral cycle formally opens.