APC draws its 2027 Senate battle lines as primaries delivered shock results across 36 states

By Sam Agogo

It was a day that reordered Nigeria’s political universe. On Monday, May 18, 2026, the All Progressives Congress conducted its senatorial primaries across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, and when the dust finally settled in the early hours of Tuesday morning, some of the most powerful names in the National Assembly had been swept aside — replaced by returning governors, reformed opposition defectors, and grassroots candidates backed by the iron machinery of state governments. For every triumphant governor who punched a fist in the air, a veteran senator quietly packed his boxes in disbelief.

The exercise — a combustible mixture of direct voting, consensus affirmations, and outright political warfare — produced outcomes that will shape the composition of Nigeria’s Red Chamber for years to come and have already triggered fresh bouts of litigation, protest and allegations of manipulation that party leaders will spend weeks trying to extinguish.

At the top of the party hierarchy, the story was largely one of continuity. Senate President Godswill Akpabio swept Akwa Ibom North-West with an emphatic 121,425 votes, returning as the APC’s candidate in what was effectively a coronation. He has served the district since 2015, lost the seat in 2019 and reclaimed it in 2023, and Monday’s result suggests he intends to make the Red Chamber his permanent address. Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin was confirmed through a consensus arrangement in Kano North, the affirmation exercise in Bichi turning into a carnival of support attended by thousands from across the district’s 13 local government areas. Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele was returned unopposed in Ekiti Central with 29,586 votes, a number more reflective of admiration than competition. Former Senate Chief Whip Orji Uzor Kalu demolished his lone challenger Philip Nto in Abia North by 65,651 votes to 2,103, an outcome that barely warranted the effort of a primary election. Former Senate President Ahmad Lawan secured Yobe North without opposition, while in Borno State, the three incumbent senators — Ali Ndume, Tahir Monguno and Kaka Shehu Lawan — were all affirmed unopposed, their stranglehold on the North-East’s political machinery undisturbed.

But the commanding performance of the Senate’s upper crust was quickly overshadowed by the seismic events in the states. In one of the most defining storylines of the primaries, four serving or outgoing governors secured senatorial tickets, effectively trading their executive chairs for Senate seats and reshaping the dynamics of the upper chamber in one extraordinary evening. Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma delivered the most lopsided of all the gubernatorial victories, crushing former Governor Rochas Okorocha in Imo West with a staggering 230,464 votes. Okorocha, who had defiantly insisted on contesting despite the odds stacked against him, could only manage 1,098 — a humiliation of historic proportions for a man who once governed the same constituency that now rejected him so comprehensively. The result was declared at Orlu Local Government headquarters by Rear Admiral Williams Kayode (retd.), who described the exercise across the district’s 12 local government areas as transparent and credible. In the same state, Senator Patrick Ndubueze retained Imo North with 108,862 votes, defeating Senator Ifeanyi Ararume who could muster only 79.

Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun polled 75,560 votes to claim the Ogun East senatorial ticket, dispatching former governor Gbenga Daniel — who had held the Senate seat — into political retirement. In Kwara Central, Senator Salisu Mustapha secured his return ticket to the Red Chamber after withdrawing from the governorship race, stepping back from his gubernatorial ambitions to reclaim his Senate mandate — a move that party insiders described as a calculated retreat to more familiar and commanding ground. Gombe State Governor Inuwa Yahaya emerged unopposed as the consensus candidate for Gombe North. Former Ogun governor Ibikunle Amosun, who had been expected to contest in Ogun Central, quietly boycotted the exercise altogether.

No state, however, convulsed more violently than Delta. In Delta North, former governor Ifeanyi Okowa — who crossed from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC barely months ago in one of the most consequential defections of this political season — annihilated incumbent Senator Ned Nwoko with 113,309 votes against Nwoko’s 2,612. The sheer scale of the defeat, conducted across Delta North’s local government areas and collated by the APC’s National Assembly Primary Committee, left political analysts and party faithful speechless. Mrs. Miriam Ali, the third aspirant, managed a negligible 40 votes. Nwoko, who had deployed considerable resources in anticipation of the contest, now finds himself without a platform as the 2027 elections approach — a dramatic fall from grace for a senator who had made the Red Chamber his personal fiefdom.

Delta Central produced an equally dramatic script. Incumbent Senator Ede Dafinone deployed 116,252 votes to flatten former Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege, who scored a distant 3,643. The scale of the defeat — roughly 32 votes to one — was extraordinary for a man who had served as the country’s second-most senior senator and once commanded a vast political network across the eight local government areas that make up the district. Secretary of the APC National Assembly Primary Committee, Barrister Nusa Amagbor, declared the result peaceful, credible and transparent. Omo-Agege did not go quietly. In a statement issued immediately after the declaration, he announced that he had won what he called a decisive victory across all 85 wards and flatly rejected the official result.

His parallel declaration of victory has set the stage for a bitter post-primary legal battle that threatens to consume Delta Central politics for months before the 2027 general election.

Kaduna State delivered some of the most absorbing contests of the night. Former Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero clinched Kaduna North with 6,060 votes, defeating Muhammad Mu’azu Mukaddas who polled 1,044 and Yusuf Bala Ikara who managed 362. In Kaduna Central, a resurgent Shehu Sani polled 9,105 votes to secure what amounts to a remarkable political comeback — Sani, once estranged from the APC, thanked President Bola Tinubu and Governor Uba Sani for their support and declared that there was no better representation of the people of Kaduna State than the current arrangement.

Returning Officer Samira Jibrin confirmed that Yusuf Zailani scored 1,021 votes while Shettima Yerima, who had withdrawn from the race, polled 1,253. Senator Sunday Marshall Katung retained Kaduna South with 7,453 votes, defeating former Senator Danjuma Laah who scored 1,370 and Michael Ayuba Auta who managed 878. Returning Officer Professor John Laah, in a moment of mild irony given that he shares a surname with the defeated aspirant, described the exercise at the Jema’a Local Government Secretariat as free, fair and peaceful.

One of the night’s most poignant defeats belonged to Senator Muhammad Danjuma Goje, who had held the Gombe Central seat for four consecutive terms and was seeking a fifth. Backed vigorously by Governor Inuwa Yahaya, retired Deputy Commissioner of Police Mohammed Ahmed polled 42,785 votes to end Goje’s long Senate career. Goje secured just 10,425 — a decisive repudiation by his own party members of a man who once controlled immense political capital in the North-East. The result was seen as a defining illustration of how thoroughly Governor Yahaya has consolidated his grip on Gombe State’s APC machinery.

Kogi State produced both a fairytale and a controversy in equal measure. Former Governor Yahaya Bello — facing outstanding legal proceedings over money laundering charges — won Kogi Central with 72,349 votes, his closest challenger Ibrahim Yakubu Adoke managing a mere 315.

Returning Officer Dr. Sadiq Mohammed declared the result at the collation centre on May 18, positioning Bello as the APC’s flagbearer for the 2027 general election in the district. Meanwhile, Kogi East senator Jibrin Isah, popularly known as Echocho, lost his return ticket to Dr. Erico Ameh in what rapidly became the night’s most acrimonious contest. Isah promptly rejected the result, accusing Governor Ahmed Ododo’s allies of hijacking electoral materials and frustrating his supporters in multiple wards. “The battle line has been drawn,” he declared in an impassioned statement, vowing not merely to challenge the result but to contest the governorship against Ododo. Official figures showed Erico secured the highest number of valid votes across the district’s nine local government areas, with Isah polling 51 votes at the ward level where results were declared.

Edo State presented a tale of two districts. In Edo North, former Governor Adams Oshiomhole was returned unopposed with 24,284 votes, a dignified passage back to the Senate for a man whose political career has known both enormous highs and bruising lows. The party’s Returning Officer Kassim Otono confirmed the result without drama. Edo South, however, told a sharply different story: incumbent Senator Neda Imasuen lost his return ticket to former House of Representatives member Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, becoming one of several serving senators who discovered the hard way that party loyalty offers no guaranteed renewal.

Ekiti State’s three primaries were clean sweeps for the incumbents. Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, Senator Cyril Fasuyi and Senate Spokesman Yemi Adaramodu all prevailed. In Ekiti South, Adaramodu’s 12,200 votes were enough to overcome former Senate Minority Leader Biodun Olujimi, who scored 7,420, and former House member Bamidele Faparusi. In Ekiti North, Fasuyi polled 14,179 votes to defeat Senator Ayodele Arise who got 4,868 votes, Dayo Bamisaye who scored 3,694 and Dare Owolabi who managed 2,836. Enugu State similarly produced three untroubled victories: Chief Ikeje Asogwa won Enugu North with 125,089 votes out of 152,886 registered party members, while Senator Osita Ngwu and Senator Kelvin Chukwu were declared winners in Enugu West and Enugu East respectively.

In Kebbi State, consensus politics produced a harmonious result. Senators Muhammad Adamu Aliero, Abdullahi Yahaya and Jafar Muhammad Gajere emerged as candidates after aspirants in each district stepped down voluntarily, avoiding the internecine battles that tore other states apart. Nasarawa West candidate Faisal Shuaib secured his ticket unopposed with 98,614 affirmative votes from members across five local government areas. In Lagos, Senators Wasiu Eshinlokun (Central), Idiat Adebule (West) and Tokunbo Abiru (East) were returned without significant opposition, as was the pattern across most South-West states where the APC’s internal machinery delivered orderly affirmations.

The primaries were also scarred by disqualifications. No fewer than 44 aspirants nationwide were barred from participating, with at least three — including former Rivers deputy governor Ipalibo Banigo, Bayelsa East senator Benson Agadaga and Kebbi South senator Garba Maidoki — disqualified on account of their recent defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, a provision embedded in the Electoral Act 2026 whose consequences are now reverberating through the party’s primary process. The very anti-defection provisions that some of these senators had championed in the legislature ultimately proved their undoing.

By the time results had been declared across most states, the verdict on Monday’s exercise was clear: the APC primaries had produced Nigeria’s most consequential internal reshaping since the party’s formation in 2013.

Senior officials described the exercise as broadly peaceful and reflective of the party’s internal democracy, even as defeated aspirants in Delta, Kogi and elsewhere vowed legal challenges. Several senatorial districts — including parts of Adamawa, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Taraba and Oyo — remain pending or inconclusive due to internal disputes, zoning disagreements and logistical challenges. The full picture of the APC’s Senate line-up for 2027 will only emerge once those outstanding exercises are concluded.