A legal practitioner, Frank Tietie, has said the ruling All Progressives Congress is gradually ceding significant influence and control of its primary election process to state governors ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Tietie made the remarks during an interview on Arise Television on Sunday while reacting to ongoing political developments and alignments across the country.
According to him, the growing influence of governors within the party could further strengthen and consolidate the political position of President Bola Tinubu, noting that such decisions remain largely political.
“The APC and the president are ceding a lot of influence and control of the primary election process to the governors. It might tend to ensconce his own position. It’s a decision that is political,” he said.
Tietie, however, stressed the need to protect the rights of aspirants participating in the party’s internal processes, especially those who may have voluntarily agreed to consensus arrangements.
According to him, aspirants who sign withdrawal or consensus agreements could still challenge the process in court if they believe laid-down procedures were breached.
“The protection of the individual’s right, who has indeed submitted a voluntary withdrawal that he will agree to a consensus candidate, is important,” he stated.
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He added that political parties must ensure full disclosure of the procedures guiding consensus arrangements before aspirants obtain and submit nomination forms.
“I think he might ultimately be aggrieved if he does approach the court to say the processes of achieving the consensus were actually breached.
“So those processes ought to be disclosed to him at the time he was collecting the form and submitting the form,” he said.
Tietie further argued that political parties are free to adopt different methods in arriving at consensus candidates, provided the rules are transparent and known to all participants beforehand.
“Process could be that there would be a ballot or it could just be by way of throwing dice, whatever it is,” he added.
His comments come amid growing debates within political circles over the increasing role of governors and party leaders in determining candidates through consensus arrangements ahead of the 2027 elections.