APC Crisis: Two Chairmanship Contenders Throw Bwari Council Polls Into Chaos

By Adamu Abdullahi

Prior to the primary held to produce the party’s standard-bearer for the February, 2026 chairmanship election in the FCT, there had been a palpable tension within the party following speculation and counter allegations that the immediate past senator of the FCT and a political ally to FCT minister, Senator Philip Tinimu Aduda was bent on imposed a candidate on the party.

However, the concept of a “political confusion” has gained prominence ahead of the 2026 FCT election, where two prominent  candidates from one political party are soliciting for votes from electorates in Bwari Area council for chairmanship election.

‎If two candidates submit their candidacy under the same political party for the same election in Nigeria, it creates a serious legal and political problem. According to Nigeria electoral law, only one official candidate can represent a political party in an election being its ward contest, local government contest, house of representatives contest, senatorial contest, Governorship contest or presidential contest.

The electoral body, INEC  requires that each party submits a single candidacy that is officially endorsed by the party’s national leadership or  local contest body.‎ When two individuals claim to represent the same party, INEC will likely put both files on hold and demand clarification.

The party must officially declare who its true candidate is, usually through a formal statement signed by the party chairman or the authorized decision-making organ. If the party fails to clarify this in time, there is a real risk that both candidacies will be rejected, and the party may lose the chance to participate in the election.

‎In the case where the party is divided and unable to reach an agreement, the dispute often escalates to the Constitutional Council or administrative courts. These legal bodies will examine the situation to determine who, between the competing candidates, followed the party’s constitution and electoral procedures. They will verify which candidate was properly nominated through the correct party channels.

‎If the party leadership is fractured beyond repair, and no legal solution is found before the electoral deadline, the result could be catastrophic: the party might be disqualified from the election altogether. This has happened in various political crises across Africa where internal divisions led to electoral failure.

‎In short, Nigeria law does not tolerate two candidates from the same party. The system is designed for clear, unified party representation, not internal battles. When party members cannot agree on a single flagbearer, they risk handing victory to their opponents on a silver platter. Disunity at the top is a recipe for electoral disaster.
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Is Bwari now having two Chairmanship Candidates in APC, considering Joshua Musa Ishaku’s certificate of return after being declared in the primaries, while Audi’s Certificate also issued, Bwari is one of the six Area Councils in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where grassroots elections will be held in February  2026.

Ishaku was declared the party’s candidate for Bwari at a primary election held in June 2025, but the party’s Election Appeal Committee reportedly recommended that he be dropped as the flag-bearer.

As former chairman of Bwari Area Council, Hon Musa Dikko, and Hon. Shuaibu Musa, the APC Secretary in the Area Council,  rejected the move, warning that it would spell doom for the party.
Dikko and Musa, in a statement they jointly signed on behalf of APC stakeholders forum in Bwari Area Council, said the development is already causing tension and confusion.

Some of the tension and confusion is already rising as both candidate continue visiting the electorates to soliciting for vote and support but the truth is that the electorates said they cannot even Identify the authentic candidate among the two candidates the political confusion that uphold Bwari  All Progressives Congress (APC), flows from this. But it confirms that politics is not as straightforward as solving a mathematical equation; it’s more complex.

It reaffirms the old truism that all politics is local
It is so bad that the party couldn’t hold its grand support rally due to the coldness of the confusion. The tension is the comprehensive defeat of the party loyalist party said. A united party will defeat APC if case is not taken.