Former Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on National Assembly Matters, Ibrahim Olarewaju, says he did not violate rules by failing to resign his appointment before contesting for the All Progressives Congress, APC, ticket for the Ekiti North Federal Constituency II seat.

A statement by his media office on Wednesday said Olarewaju won the APC primary election as a reward for his years of grassroots engagement, accessibility, and unwavering commitment to the people of his constituency.

The statement described the party’s primary as a transparent and democratic process conducted in full accordance with APC rules.

It added that his principal complied with all constitutional, legal, and party requirements prior to the election.

“His resignation as SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters took effect on March 31, 2026, in compliance with the directive issued to political appointees seeking elective office.

“It is incorrect and misleading to suggest that Olarewaju’s participation in the primary election violated any provision of the law. Allegations, no matter how loudly repeated, do not amount to evidence,” the statement said.

The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ebonyi State, Stanley Okoro Emegha has declared that the state is on lead across the South- East zone in the ongoing voters registration ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Emegha said stakeholders of the state have been working to ensure that the state maintain the status in the registration exercise.

He disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Abakaliki, after stakeholders meeting of the APC on Tuesday.

He noted that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has provided additional machine to the state to address shortage of  machines in the exercise.

“We have appealed to the INEC headquarters for more machines because we know that what they assigned for each local government is not enough to carry our people.

“As a result of this, we have applied for more machines and we have gotten it and we have distributed those machines.

“Local Government Chairmen are working on it including tertiary institutions. We are also meeting people that doesn’t have the capacity of coming down to their polling units to register, we are meeting them in their various locations now as far as it within Ebonyi State.

“The most important thing is for our people to register. We don’t care who you are going to vote for but we want Ebonyi to be counted when others are being counted.  So we have started doing a lot for the voters registration.

“We are leading in the entire South East, that is the truth. Stakeholders are working seriously to make sure we have good registration.

” Let our people register first whether you are in party A or B.  Then, after the registration, we will start talking about who do you want to use your PVC for”, he stated.

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abia State, has defied the revised list submitted by the party’s national leadership to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and released a separate list of candidates for the 2027 general election.

This is contained in a statement by the state party’s spokesman, Uche Aguoru, on Wednesday.

The state APC chapter congratulated what it described as the winners of the party’s governorship and national assembly primaries conducted by the National Working Committee, NWC.

This came a few hours after the APC national headquarters replaced Uchenna Erondu with Paul Ikonne as the party’s senatorial candidate for Abia south and substituted Chris Nkwonta with Samuel Okezie for the Ukwa East/Ukwa West federal constituency.

However, the Abia APC retained Erondu and Nkwonta on its list of candidates.

The state chapter also recognised Eric Oprah as the APC governorship candidate for the 2027 election. It listed Orji Uzor Kalu, Emeka Atuma and Erondu as the party’s senatorial candidates.

The chapter also recognised Nkwonta, Uzo Azubuike, Udo Alozie, Uzo Ihuka, Chinedum Orji, Benjamin Kalu, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha and Ikenna Ukwa as the APC’s House of Representatives candidates.

The Abia APC thanked Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, national chairman of the party, and members of the NWC for conducting what it described as a transparent, credible and fair primary election.

“The APC expresses profound appreciation to the National Chairman of our great party, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, and members of the National Working Committee, NWC, for conducting a transparent, credible, and fair primary election that provided every aspirant with an equal opportunity to participate,” the statement read.