By Ogun Daily Newspaper

Amid growing protests and mounting pressure from aggrieved aspirants over the outcome of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries, the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) has reportedly submitted the names of its candidates for the forthcoming general elections to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Ogun Daily Newspaper gathered from highly-placed party sources that the decision was taken during a meeting of the APC National Working Committee last week as part of efforts to forestall attempts by influential interests seeking a review of some primary election outcomes.

According to sources familiar with the development, the move was aimed at shielding the party’s leadership from intense lobbying and political pressure from aspirants who have allegedly secured backing from powerful figures within government circles to challenge the results.

“The results of the primaries have already been submitted to INEC. The NWC took that decision because of disturbing signals coming from certain quarters,” a source disclosed.

Investigations indicate that during the conduct of the governorship and National Assembly primaries, the APC national secretariat had directed officials supervising the exercises not to formally announce results until they received final ratification from the Professor Nentawe Yilwatda-led NWC.

However, the directive was reportedly not strictly adhered to in several states, particularly where consensus arrangements were adopted and winners were publicly declared immediately after the exercises.

Despite those announcements, state chapters were said to have forwarded the names of victorious aspirants to the party’s national headquarters for final processing and ratification.

The uncertainty surrounding the official status of some primary results had earlier prompted reactions from several aspirants across the country.

In Oyo State, former Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who lost the APC governorship ticket to Senator Sarafadeen Ali, insisted that no individual should claim ownership of the ticket until the party’s national headquarters formally announced the outcome.

In a statement issued last week, Adelabu maintained that neither state officials nor local stakeholders had the authority to declare final winners, stressing that only the APC national leadership could make such pronouncements.

While the party has yet to officially publish a comprehensive list of candidates or commence the distribution of Certificates of Return, APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, recently assured protesters at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja that the outcome of appeals would be considered before final decisions were made public.

But insiders now suggest that the submission of candidates’ names to INEC may have effectively settled many of the contentious contests.

Speaking further, the party source dismissed claims that petitions submitted by dissatisfied aspirants were ignored.

“Who told you that the petitions were ignored? Appeal panels sat in the various states and submitted their reports to the national secretariat. The NWC considered the reports. There is no obligation for the party to make every recommendation public,” the source said.

The source also alluded to comments reportedly made by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who had assured some lawmakers that concerns raised by unsuccessful aspirants would receive attention.

“I am sure you heard the Senate President’s remarks. But does that mean tickets should be taken away from those who won legitimately and handed to those rejected by delegates and constituents? That is the question,” the source added.

The development is expected to generate fresh debate within the ruling party as aggrieved aspirants continue to challenge the conduct and outcome of primaries in several states.

Neither the APC National Secretariat nor INEC had officially commented on the reported submission of candidates’ names as of the time of filing this report.