Barely 48 hours after being forced to abandon his re-election bid by power brokers in his ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) Governor Siminalayi Fubara, alongside other serving and former governors, has been listed among the prominent party leaders from across the country to superintend over the party’s 2026 presidential primary election holding Wednesday May 24, 2026.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that Fubara’s assigned role in the presidential primary came on the heels of his withdrawal from the Rivers State APC governorship primary election held on Thursday, and his decision not to seek a second term in office. He confirmed in a personally signed statement on Wednesday that he was under pressure to withdraw.
Other serving governors to serve as coordinators and collation officers for their respective states include Hope Uzodimma, (Imo); Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom); Douye Diri (Bayelsa) Hyacinth Alia (Benue); Babagana Zulum (Borno); Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta) Monday Okpebholo (Edo); Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) Mohammed Umar Bago (Niger) Lucky Aiyedatiwa (Ondo) Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau) Agbu Kefas (Taraba) Dauda Lawal (Zamfara) and former Osun State governor Minister of Marine and Blue Economy Adegboyega Oyetola.
In guidelines released by the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja signed by the APC National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, it was confirmed that the presidential primary would be conducted through the direct primary system on May 24, 2026, allowing all registered party members across the country’s 8,809 wards to vote for their preferred aspirant.
The party said the exercise would be supervised across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory by designated coordinators and collation officers appointed by the APC leadership.
While former Senate President, Pius Anyim, was appointed chairman of the Presidential Primary Election Committee, Ken Nnamani, also a former Senate President, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, former deputy governor Grace Titi Laoye-Ponle, former Speaker Yakubu Dogara, and former Kogi State governor Idris Wada were named as members. Senator Sanusi Musa will serve as secretary of the committee.
The ruling party similarly constituted a Presidential Primary Election Appeal Committee headed by former Senate Leader Ali Ndume. Samuel Pwajok was named secretary of the panel, while former Speaker of the House of Representatives Patricia Etteh was listed as a member.
According to the party, all registered APC members will be eligible to participate in the primary, with results from each ward to be collated at the local government level before transmission to the national collation centre in Abuja.
The APC said ward-level results from the nationwide exercise would be collated at local government and state levels before final submission to the Presidential Primary Election Committee in Abuja.
According to the party, “The organisation of conduct of the direct primary in each of the 36 states and the FCT shall be the responsibility of the State Coordinator and Collation Officer, who shall also collate the results of all the local governments in the state and present the same to the Presidential Primary Election Committee in Abuja, FCT on 24 May, 2026.”
“The provisions of the ‘Procedure for the Conduct of Direct and Consensus Mode of Primaries’ earlier issued and forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Committee under the cover of a letter dated 15 May 2026 with reference No: APC/NHDQ/INEC/PRYS-DOCS/01-05/26 shall also apply mutatis mutandis.”
