ABUJA: In one of the most dramatic reversals of Saturday’s primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Hon. Sanni Salau Ogembe — who had been listed among 14 aspirants disqualified by the party’s national screening committee hours earlier — was returned as the winner of the Okene/Ogori/Magongo Federal Constituency primary in Kogi State with a landslide 31,651 votes.
The result exposed a glaring contradiction at the heart of the ruling party’s primaries process: while the APC’s National Secretariat in Abuja had published Ogembe’s name among those “not cleared” to participate in Saturday’s exercise, delegates in Kogi went ahead to vote — and voted overwhelmingly in his favour.
Ogembe crushed his closest rivals by a staggering margin, with Audu polling a distant 1,141 votes and Tao managing just 349. The scale of the victory left little ambiguity about his standing among grassroots party members in the constituency, even as questions lingered over his clearance status at the national level.
The disqualification list, released by National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka via the party’s official X handle on Saturday, said the screening exercise had been conducted “in line with established procedures and guidelines” but gave no reasons for individual exclusions. Ogembe’s presence on that list, juxtaposed against his overwhelming primary victory, immediately became the sharpest illustration of the contradictions rippling through the APC’s 2027 primaries season.
Ogembe’s case was not the only flashpoint on Saturday. The 14-name disqualification list drew particular attention in Rivers State, where four of those barred are reportedly allies of Governor Sim Fubara. They are Air Commodore John Azubuike Opara (Rtd), who sought the Port Harcourt seat; Hon. Anderson Allison Igbiki of Okrika/Ogu/Bolo; Awaji Imombek D. Abirite of Andoni/Opori/Nkoko; and Hon. Boma Goodhead of Asari Toru/Akuku-Toro. Their simultaneous exclusion has deepened suspicions that the screening process was deployed as a political instrument against the Fubara camp within the party.
Ondo State accounted for seven of the 14 disqualifications — the highest from any single state. Those barred include Hon. Adefisoye Tajudeen of Idanre/Ifedore; Olusegun Victor Ategbole and Seun Oluwashina Ajongbolo, both from Akoko South-East/South-West; Rt. Hon. Arowole Ayodeji Samuel of Owo/Ose; and Morufu Tosin Ibrahim, Oseni Oyeniyi and Olaleye John Adedipe, all three of whom contested the Akoko North-East/North-West seat.
The remaining disqualifications fell in Bauchi, where Dr. Bashir Ibrahim Bello was excluded from the Darazo/Ganjuwa race, and Ebonyi, where Hon. Idu Igariwe was barred from the Afikpo-Edda Federal Constituency primary.
None of the affected aspirants had, as of Saturday, indicated whether they intended to challenge their exclusion through the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms — though with primaries already concluded in several constituencies, the window for effective redress is narrowing rapidly.
For Ogembe, however, Saturday ended not in the frustration of disqualification but in the euphoria of a constituency-level triumph that his supporters described as a “historic and well-deserved victory.” Whether the APC’s national leadership will ratify that result — or stand by its earlier screening decision — is now the question hanging over Okene/Ogori/Magongo.
