President Bola Tinubu on Sunday re-emerged as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the 2027 general elections, polling over 10 million votes in the primary poll.
The exercise raised instances of inflated figures as social media videos showed a headcount of voters jumping from 11 to 1000 and 10,000 in Bende ward in Abia State.
The election was between Mr Tinubu and an Edo State indigene, Stanley Osifo.
The chairman of the APC presidential primaries election committee, Pius Anyim, said Mr Osifo polled about 16,500 votes out of the over 11 million accredited APC members.
He said, “For the purpose of this election, 11,069,756 voters were accredited. Mr. President, after the accreditation, 11,015,665 voters cast their votes, and after we completed the votes, I am delighted to announce, on behalf of the committee, that the aspirants received votes as follows: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, received a total number of 10,999,162 votes. Mr Stanley Osifo received a total of 16,503 votes.
“It is therefore my duty as a returning officer for this primary election to declare President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, having satisfied the requirements of APC constitutions and guidelines, and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner of the presidential primary election, and returned as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the 2027 general elections.”
But netizens questioned the authenticity of the figures, claiming the videos undermined the credibility of the polls.
In Abia State’s Bende ward where Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu of the House of Representatives in Abia, the vote counting was inflated, the video showed.
There were two queues: one for Mr Tinubu and the other for Mr Osifo. The person at the front of each queue held a banner showing the name and picture of the aspirant.
An official counted aloud the number of APC members who voted for Mr Tinubu.
The official steadily counted from 1 to 10 before jumping to 90. He continued till 92 before calling the next number as 1011, pointing to the individual standing behind the so-called 92nd voter.
The exercise drew criticisms from netizens.
The APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda presented the certificate of return to Mr Tinubu and the party’s flag on Sunday.
“Thank you all of you. You changed the landscape, looking at the figure that you returned,” he said.
