President Bola Tinubu has secured a landslide victory in the presidential primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), overwhelmingly defeating his sole challenger, businessman Stanley Osifo, in the nationwide direct primary conducted across the country’s 8,809 wards.
The results, announced on Sunday by the returning officer of the APC Presidential Primary Election, Pius Anyim, during the collation exercise at the Bola Tinubu International Conference Centre, Abuja, showed the incumbent president dominating the contest across virtually all states of the federation.
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Mr Tinubu polled a total of 10,999, 162 votes, while Mr Osifo secured only 16,503 votes nationwide, recording zero or negligible votes in several states.
Out of a total of 12,643,306 registered voters in the party, 11,069,756 members were accredited for the exercise, while 11,015,665 eventually cast their votes during the nationwide direct primary.
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The primary election, held on Saturday, 23 May, was supervised by governors and senior party officials appointed by the APC as state collation officers.
Present at the collation venue were APC governors, members of the National Executive Committee (NEC), National Working Committee (NWC), National Assembly members and other party stalwarts.
The results showed that Mr Osifo failed to secure a single vote in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Delta, Kogi, Ebonyi, Kwara, Borno, Kebbi, Enugu, Kaduna, Ondo, Yobe, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, Ogun, Sokoto, Taraba, Cross River, Gombe, Oyo and Osun states.
In the FCT, where former senator Philip Aduda served as collation officer, all 36,103 votes cast went to Mr Tinubu, while Mr Osifo scored zero.
Kogi State Governor Usman Ododo, who presented the state’s result, announced that all 197,370 votes cast in the state went to the president, with none for his challenger.
Similarly, Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori declared that all 407,646 votes cast in the state were won by Mr Tinubu.
Ebonyi State Governor Francis Nwifuru announced that the president secured all 207,579 votes cast in the state, while Jigawa State Governor Umar Namadi reported that all 206,520 votes cast in the state’s APC wards also went to the incumbent.
In several other states, the margin remained overwhelmingly in Mr Tinubu’s favour.
In Anambra State, Mr Tinubu polled 43,034 votes against Mr Osifo’s 383 votes, while in Abia State, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who presented the result, announced that Mr Osifo scored 1,007 votes out of the 162,012 total votes cast, with the remainder going to the president.
Kano State recorded one of the highest figures for Mr Osifo, who secured 2,675 votes against Mr Tinubu’s 503,527 votes. In Niger State, the Edo-born businessman polled 5,248 votes, his highest tally nationwide, while Mr Tinubu secured 175,487 votes.
In Lagos State, the president’s political stronghold, Mr Tinubu polled 814,988 votes, while Mr Osifo received 1,186 votes.
Kaduna delivered 618,914 votes to the incumbent without a single vote for his challenger, while Adamawa returned 644,149 votes for Mr Tinubu against Mr Osifo’s 195 votes.
Borno State delivered all 414,988 votes cast to Mr Tinubu, while Enugu State returned all 383,382 accredited votes to the incumbent.
Plateau State returned 241,720 votes for Mr Tinubu and 303 votes for Mr Osifo, while Nasarawa produced 285,436 votes for the president against 768 votes for his challenger.
In Kwara State, Mr Tinubu polled 310,990 votes while Mr Osifo secured none. Edo recorded 121,098 votes for the president and just one vote for Mr Osifo. Kebbi returned 292,972 votes for Mr Tinubu with zero for his challenger, while Bauchi recorded 156,541 votes for the president and 2,650 for Mr Osifo.
Ondo delivered 181,996 votes to Mr Tinubu and none to Mr Osifo, while Yobe returned 253,804 votes exclusively for the president. Rivers State recorded 280,082 votes for Mr Tinubu and zero for the businessman, while Akwa Ibom gave the incumbent 389,197 votes without any vote for his opponent.
Benue State delivered 374,787 votes for Mr Tinubu and 779 votes for Mr Osifo, while Imo returned 582,960 votes for the president and 103 votes for his challenger. Ekiti also gave Mr Tinubu all 85,340 votes cast.
Zamfara recorded 321,579 votes for the incumbent and 42 for Mr Osifo, while Ogun State returned 322,485 votes solely for the president. Sokoto gave Mr Tinubu all 301,000 votes cast, while Taraba returned 183,698 votes exclusively for him.
Cross River State produced 113,911 votes for Mr Tinubu with none for Mr Osifo, while Gombe delivered 450,517 votes entirely to the president.
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In Oyo State, Mr Tinubu polled 142,754 votes while Mr Osifo secured 929 votes. Osun State delivered all 100,880 votes cast to the president, while Bayelsa returned 277,192 votes for him and five votes for Mr Osifo.
Mr Osifo had emerged as the only challenger to the president after purchasing the APC’s N100 million presidential nomination form.
The businessman had vowed to challenge the incumbent for the party’s ticket after reported moves to adopt a consensus arrangement failed to materialise.
The outcome of the primary further consolidates Mr Tinubu’s grip on the ruling party ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with the president now set to fly the APC flag for a second-term bid.
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