The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has clarifies that contrary to some wishful thinking amongst party members, automatic tickets for its first term members at the National Assembly has been ruled out. The APC National Publicity Secretary, Barrister Felix Morka, stated this yesterday while debunking a report by some media outlet speculating that federal lawmakers will enjoy automatic ticket ahead of the 2027 general election.
Following the gale of defection that has marred the opposition parties, APC is now the majority in the Senate with 68 senators out of 109 members and over 200 in the 360-member House of Representatives.
This is as opposition leaders have been trooping into the ruling APC party in preparation of the 2027 general elections.
While some of the new defectors justified jumping the ship because of internal problem in the opposition party, but others believed that they would secure more dividend of democracy only when they are in the ruling party.
Also, there were some speculations that some of the defectors who joined the APC were promised automatic tickets.
But the party said, “The attention of the APC has been drawn to a purported ‘breaking news report tagged, ‘APC grants automatic tickets to all National Assembly members’ in viral circulation.
“The report is fake news and should be disregarded in its entirety as it did not emanate from our great party.
“We urge all party members and the general public to disregard the report as fake and of mischievous origin.”
Earlier Developments
Recall that some two weeks ago, all the 22 governors who are members of the APC, all its members in the National Assembly, and its National Working Committee (NWC), alongside zonal leaderships recently endorsed and adopted President Tinubu as the party’s sole candidate for the 2027 election.
This is coming just two years into Tinubu’s administration while others await the president to formally announce his intention to seek re-election before such move would have been justified.
Tinubu was formally adopted as the sole presidential candidate of the APC during the party’s National Summit held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The summit, themed “Renewed Hope Agenda: The Journey So Far,” saw overwhelming support from key party stakeholders, including governors, members of the National Assembly and the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
Chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) and governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, announced the unanimous endorsement of the President by all the 22 APC governors.
Subsequently, Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, announced that the APC members in the National Assembly also endorsed Tinubu for a second term.
National Chairman of the APC, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje also announced that the party’s NWC endorsed Tinubu for re-election.
Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, who also chairs the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), said Nigeria was on the right path with Tinubu at the helm.
Following this, there was furore in the House of Representatives chamber where the joint session was held, prompting the president to say, “Which means you are re-elected.”
When the lawmakers heard the president’s remark, they started singing, “On your mandate we shall stand…”
A Recipe For Chaos – APC Chieftain
Dissecting the matter, an APC chieftain from the North East said the endorsement of President Tinubu as automatic candidate of the party has
Created serious problems.
He said the party’s position will spark controversy, stressing that the lawmakers who endorsed Tinubu were also expecting automatic tickets.
He said, “All the first time governors, members of the Senate, House of Representatives and the State Assemblies that stamped the endorsement of the president are expecting corresponding endorsement by the president and the APC for them to have automatic tickets.
“They are not expecting anything less as speak, and the party cannot tell them anything and they will accept. This is indirectly closing the doors to a fair contest. It also means non-performing elected representatives would have no problem of coming back simply because they endorsed the return of the president. This is a recipe for chaos.
“There are popular contestants who lost because of one reason or the other in 2023; they will not accept any compromise now. People are just forgetting about the dangers of the endorsement of President Tinubu in isolation; which to me is being spearheaded by some selfish leaders without putting the larger picture in perspective.
“What they did was just self-serving, which at the end of the day, the whole thing will hurt the APC as a party. This has never happened in our political history because the democratic foundation of the party has been completely eroded.”
