Controversy Trails Tinubu’s 10.99 Million Vote Score in APC Presidential Primary

Questions are mounting over the 10.99 million votes President Bola Tinubu scored in the APC presidential primary, with observers raising concerns about the credibility of the figures.

The APC announced Tinubu as winner of the primary held on Saturday, with results collated from 8,809 wards nationwide. His sole challenger, Stanley Osifo, secured just 16,503 votes. But the scale of the figures has stirred debate in political circles.

According to a BusinessDay analysis, the primary recorded nearly 11 million votes — higher than Tinubu’s 8.8 million votes in the 2023 general election. Critics have questioned how a party primary produced figures exceeding a general election tally.

Among the issues being raised are why some states recorded extraordinarily high vote figures despite relatively lower APC membership strength in those areas. Observers also queried whether there was an independent verification mechanism to authenticate the votes announced by the primary election committee.

TheCable asked directly: how did the APC record more votes in its primaries than in the 2023 general election? The Guardian reported that critics have questioned the credibility of the process, while the APC has defended the transparency of the poll.

Tinubu’s highest vote totals came from Lagos (814,988), Adamawa (644,149), Kaduna (618,914), Kano (500,852), and Imo (582,960).

Some analysts argue the high figures reflect the APC’s electronic membership registration, which the party said registered over 12 million members. Others see it as a symbolic endorsement designed to project strength ahead of the 2027 election.

Sources: BusinessDay, TheCable, The Guardian