President Bola Tinubu has directed his chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, and special adviser on political matters, Ibrahim Masari, to oversee the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary elections for Senate and House of Representatives seats ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The proposal comes after recent high-level meetings with senators and House members who emphasized the need for internal party democracy.
Under the new system, Gbajabiamila’s and Masari’s supervisory team would work with APC state governors and the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives to carry out their presidential duties.
The duo is expected to work closely with governors and party leaders to ensure peaceful, transparent, and credible primaries across the country while also providing regular feedback to the president on how the exercise is being carried out.
The monitoring, however, would not replace the APC National Secretariat’s statutory function, which will continue to properly plan and run the primaries in accordance with the Electoral Act as modified and party norms.
The supervisory team will focus on political coordination, monitoring adherence to due process, and assisting with conflict resolution, while the NWC will continue to issue notices, screen aspirants, deploy primary panels, and collate results.
Many top lawmakers are reportedly putting pressure on the president to broaden the membership of the supervisory organization to accommodate more interests.
Tinubu has so far rejected these offers, fearful of creating a platform that could compromise or jeopardize the party’s legal responsibility in executing a free, fair, and legitimate primary election process.
