The APC presidential primary is currently ongoing and Topnewstv has predicted who will likely take home the big prize.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is in the process of choosing its presidential flag-bearer for the 2023 general election.
The convention, which kicked off on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, has now entered its second day as determined delegates cast their votes for their favourite aspirants.
2,203 votes are up for grabs for the 13 aspirants left in the race.
As of the time of writing this story, voting has ended at the Eagle Square, venue of the convention, while sorting and counting is underway.
With a winner expected to emerge in the next hours, Topnewstv has examined the chances of all the contestants in the race, and we have projected who might take home the coveted ticket.
Delegates
As stipulated in the amended Electoral Act, only elected delegates are allowed to take part in this convention and the APC opted for three delegates per local government in Nigeria.
Bear in mind that Nigeria has 774 local governments including the FCT, so in the final analyses, 2,322 delegates are expected to cast their votes at the APC special congress.
However, only 2,203 delegates were accredited for the election and they’re as follows;
North West: Kano – 132, Kaduna – 69, Katsina -102, Kebbi -63, Jigawa – 81, Sokoto – 69, Zamfara – 42.
North East: Taraba – 48, Adamawa – 63, Gombe – 33, Bauchi – 60, Borno – 81, Yobe – 51
South East: Abia – 51, Ebonyi – 39, Imo – 81, Anambra – 63, Enugu – 51.
South West: Lagos – 60, Ondo – 54, Oyo – 99, Ogun – 60, Ekiti – 48, Osun – 90.
North Central: Kwara – 48, Niger – 75, Plateau – 51, FCT – 18, Kogi – 63, Nasarawa – 39, Benue – 66.
South-South: Akwa Ibom – 93, Bayelsa – 24, Rivers – 69, Cross River – 54, Delta – 75, Edo – 57.
How will the winner emerge?
Going into the convention, the contest was reduced to a four horse race as the likes of Bola Tinubu, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi were expected to share the largest chunk of the votes.
However, the convention got off to a surprising start as aspirants began to pull out of the race and threw their weights behind fellow aspirants.
Opening the floodgate of withdrawal was the former Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio, followed by Senator Ibikunle Amosun, a former Ogun state Governor.
Ekiti state Governor, Kayode Fayemi, former House of Representatives Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, Senator Ajayi Boroffice from Ondo state, Jigawa state Governor, Abubakar Badaru, and the only female aspirant, Uju Ken-Ohanenye also joined the withdrawal train.
All the aforementioned aspirants have all declared their support and endorsement for Tinubu.
The other aspirant who also withdrew from the race and endorsed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was Nicola Felix.
The slew of defections quickly changed the whole permutations as the contest swung delicately in favour of a particular candidate.
Who might win?
Taking into consideration the political pedigree of the aspirants that withdrew from the race, and the possible number of votes they could bring to the table from their respective states, Tinubu may likely clinch the ticket.
Note: This is just a mere prediction, and not the official result.
