APC Revises Candidate List, Drops Suswam, 24 Others After Appeal Reviews

The All Progressives Congress has dropped former Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam and five other senatorial hopefuls from its final list of candidates submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, following recommendations from the party’s Primary Election Appeal Committee.

The revised list, which also excludes 19 House of Representatives contestants who emerged victorious during the APC primary elections conducted in May 2026, was transmitted to INEC in a letter jointly signed by APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda and National Secretary Ajibola Basiru.

According to the document submitted to INEC, the affected states include Abia, Kogi, Taraba, Benue, Ebonyi, Ondo, Kaduna, Niger, and Kwara. Former House of Representatives member Gbenga Elegbeleye was also removed from the list.

The letter, titled ‘Forwarding of approved list of senatorial and House of Representatives candidates’, reads: “We write to formally forward the attached list of the party’s candidates for the affected senatorial and House of Representatives constituencies arising from the report of the Primary Election Appeal Committee. Following the determination of appeals from the recently concluded primary elections, the reports of the Appeal Committee were reviewed and subsequently considered and approved by the party’s NWC as its final position on the affected constituencies”.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, his deputy Jibrin Barau, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, Senate Chief Whip Mohammed Monguno, and Adams Oshiomhole received their Candidate Affidavit Forms (EC9). Four state governors are among the candidates whose names were uploaded by the APC to the INEC portal: AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara, Hope Uzodimma of Imo, Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa, and Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe.

Former Kaduna State Governor Mukhtar Yero, Shehu Sani, and Sunday Katung were cleared for Senate seats in Kaduna State, while former Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello secured the party’s ticket for the Kogi Central Senatorial District.

For the House of Representatives, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, Mudashiru Obasa, and James Faleke are among candidates to fly the APC flag.

APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka said the party received over 700 petitions from aggrieved members on the ongoing process. He stated that the party’s priority was for all its candidates to complete their INEC nomination forms and have them uploaded to the commission’s portal.

“They are to complete and return the forms to the party for upload to the INEC portal, so, making the list public is not our priority now. Although we will eventually release the list, our immediate priority is to ensure that our candidates complete their forms and meet INEC’s deadline. This is more important to us than the public release of the candidates’ list. Those who are our candidates have, by now, received their forms. They already know themselves, there is no tension about that,” Morka said.

Political parties are expected to upload names and particulars of their presidential and National Assembly candidates on INEC’s nomination portal between June 27 and July 10, when the portal would be closed.