APC Drags Opposition Candidates to Court in Niger

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State has approached the Federal High Court in Minna to challenge the eligibility of opposition governorship candidates Mohammed Mamman Nami and Mohammed Ndarani Mohammed ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The ruling party has instituted legal proceedings against the two politicians, who emerged as governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), respectively, following their departure from the APC.

Politics Nigeria reports that the suit also involves other politicians who allegedly left the APC for opposition parties without completing the necessary membership and resignation procedures.

The party is challenging their participation in the political process under their new platforms.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was listed as the first defendant in the case filed at the Minna Division of the Federal High Court.

Other defendants include the PDP, SDP, African Democratic Congress (ADC), National Democratic Congress (NDC) and several individuals.

The legal action was instituted by a team of 11 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), led by Jacob Johnson Usman of Ojochogwu Chambers.

Among the politicians named in the originating summons are Peter Jiya, senator representing Niger South; Sadiq Mohammed Rabiu, NDC senatorial candidate for Niger South; and Musa Mamman, ADC deputy governorship candidate.

Others include Alhassan Adamu Sonfada, Umar Isah, Abubakar Ndanusa and Zango Danlami Idris.

The APC is asking the court to determine whether the affected politicians were eligible to participate in the primaries of their new political parties after previously belonging to the ruling party.

The party is also challenging INEC’s recognition and publication of their names as candidates for the forthcoming elections.

In the legal action, the APC is seeking an order declaring the affected candidates ineligible to contest the 2027 general elections under their respective political parties.

It is also asking the court to set aside INEC’s publication of their names and direct the electoral commission to remove them from its list of candidates.

The party further wants an order restraining INEC from recognising the affected politicians for the elections or including their names on ballot papers.

A major part of the APC’s argument centres on Section 77 of the Electoral Act 2026, particularly the provisions governing political party membership registers and eligibility to participate in party primaries.

The ruling party reportedly argued that political parties were required to submit their digital membership registers to INEC between April 21 and May 10, 2026, ahead of their primaries.

According to the APC, some of the affected politicians were still registered members of the ruling party during the period when the membership registers were submitted.

The party maintains that they subsequently moved to opposition platforms after participating in the APC’s May 2026 primaries and failing to secure their preferred tickets.

It argues that their names were not included in the membership registers submitted by their new political parties before the statutory deadline.

The APC is relying on Sections 77(5) and 77(7) of the Electoral Act 2026, which it says restrict participation in party primaries to individuals whose names appear in the relevant membership registers.

The party contends that the affected opposition parties could not lawfully present the politicians as candidates because of the alleged failure to comply with the statutory requirements.

The APC’s legal team also cited a Supreme Court judgment delivered on September 24, 2026, in the case of INEC v. Zenith Labour Party & Others.

The party argued that INEC’s handling of the Niger State candidates was inconsistent with the position established in the judgment.

It questioned why the electoral commission had allegedly applied the court’s position in some other states but failed to take similar action regarding the affected candidates in Niger State.

The party is therefore asking the Federal High Court to determine the legality of INEC’s actions and the eligibility of the politicians involved.

However, the allegations contained in the suit have not been established by the court. The affected politicians and their political parties are entitled to present their responses to the claims.

No hearing date had been announced for the matter as of the time of filing this report.

Nami and Ndarani were previously prominent members of the APC before their movement to opposition parties following disagreements surrounding the ruling party’s internal primary elections.

Nami, a former chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), emerged as the PDP governorship candidate on August 29, 2026, after other aspirants reportedly stepped down in his favour.

His emergence provided the opposition party with a candidate to challenge the APC in the forthcoming governorship election.

Ndarani, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, also moved to the SDP and secured the party’s governorship ticket.

His decision to leave the ruling party followed disagreements over the party’s internal arrangements and the outcome of its primaries.

The dispute is connected to the APC’s May 2026 primary elections, during which Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago emerged as the party’s consensus governorship candidate for the 2027 election.

Bago was endorsed unopposed at the party’s primary held in Minna on May 21, 2026.

Following his emergence, the governor acknowledged that some party members could be dissatisfied with the process and promised efforts to reconcile aggrieved members.

He said the party had established a reconciliation arrangement to reach out to those who were unhappy with the outcome.

However, the disagreements continued, with some prominent party members eventually moving to opposition platforms.

In a related development, POLITICS NIGERIA reported that the Niger State PDP had unveiled its governorship campaign council for Nami ahead of the 2027 election.

The party appointed Alhaji Gambo Ladan as Director-General of the campaign organisation, while Architect Suleiman Maibabur was named Campaign Advisory Chairman.

The appointments were announced by the state PDP chairman, Halidu Aliyu Muhammad, as the party began strengthening its campaign structure.

Former Niger State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Jonathan Vatsa, recently left the APC for the SDP alongside more than 200 supporters.

Vatsa cited his confidence in Ndarani’s governorship ambition as part of the reasons for his decision.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.