The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, is leading the national leadership and state chairmen of the party in a three-day strategic retreat in Maiduguri, Borno State.

The retreat, which brings together APC leaders and invited stakeholders, is focused on strengthening the organisation and unity of the ruling party ahead of the 2027 general elections.

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Themed “Strengthening Party Organisation, Unity and Electoral Readiness Towards 2027,” the retreat is expected to provide an avenue for party leaders to deliberate on issues affecting the party and strategies for improving its preparedness for the upcoming elections.

Yilwatda is leading the gathering of the party’s national leadership and state chairmen as the APC continues its preparations for the 2027 electoral cycle.

The participation of invited stakeholders is also expected to contribute to discussions aimed at strengthening coordination and organisational effectiveness across the party.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate in Rivers State, Gabriel Pidomson, has dismissed reports of mass defections from the party to the All Progressives Congress (APC), insisting that the ADC remains united and focused on the 2027 governorship election.

Pidomson made the clarification during an interview on Arise News, where he said he was not aware of any ADC member who had defected to the APC, to the best of his knowledge.

According to him, reports suggesting that members of the opposition party were moving to the APC were merely “political optics” designed to create a different impression about the strength of the ADC in Rivers State.

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“The ADC is strong and united. We are united in our resolve to win. We are united in our resolve to bring about change in Rivers State,” Pidomson said.

He added that the party was more concerned with strengthening its structures and accommodating new members than responding to claims about defections.

“So, there’s nothing like that. We are together, we are united,” he said.

Pidomson said the only person he was aware had left the party after the governorship primary was Dr Seconte Davies, who lost the contest, but stressed that he was not certain Davies had joined the APC.

“The only major person that left the ADC — and I’m not sure whether he joined the APC — is Dr Seconte Davies,” he said.

The ADC candidate said Davies’ departure had not affected the party’s structure in Degema, adding that the party was “getting stronger, waxing stronger by the day.”

He said the ADC was now focused on mobilising new members and integrating them into its structures ahead of the 2027 election.

“We are focused now, not even in mobilising people in our party, is how we can accommodate the people that are coming to join the party. And how we’ll structure them into the systems and structures of our party,” Pidomson said.

His comments come amid fresh political realignments in Rivers State ahead of the 2027 elections, including disagreements between the ADC and APC over the so-called Rainbow Coalition. Pidomson recently described the political arrangement as “rainbow confusion,” arguing that the ADC represented a broader coalition of politicians from different political backgrounds.

Pidomson, however, maintained that the ADC remains focused on the 2027 election and that no defections had affected its structure.

He also said he was not focused on the activities of the Rainbow Coalition, stressing that his priority was building the ADC ahead of the election.

Meanwhile, former ADC governorship candidate in Rivers State, Tonte Ibraye, resigned his membership of the party, citing internal leadership disputes and concerns over the legitimacy of the party’s 2027 electoral processes.

A public interest lawyer and political analyst, Damien Ajayi, has said membership of a political party cannot, on its own, constitute a ground for disqualifying a candidate from an election.

Ajayi made the submission during an interview on Arise TV on Saturday while discussing the provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 on political-party membership registers, candidate nomination and constitutional qualifications.

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According to him, the question of whether an individual belongs to a particular political party is different from the constitutional requirements for contesting an election.

“The issue of membership register belonging to a political party, being a member of a political party, is a different kettle of fish entirely.”

Ajayi referenced the 2023 legal challenge involving Peter Obi and the Labour Party, arguing that the courts had made it clear that the grounds for disqualifying a candidate are contained in the Constitution.

“The court was clear that the only disqualification for a candidate are the provisions in the Constitution; that membership of a political party is an internal affair of a political party.”

He said questions surrounding whether a politician belonged to one party when an election was held and subsequently moved to another party should be considered within the context of the internal affairs of political parties and applicable electoral laws.

Ajayi also discussed Section 77 of the Electoral Act, noting that the 2022 legislation contained subsections one to three, while the 2026 Act expanded the provision to seven subsections.

He said the relevant provisions should be interpreted alongside previous Supreme Court pronouncements on constitutional qualifications and political-party membership.

“If we put this in line with Supreme Court’s pronouncements over the years, it’s been that the criteria in the Constitution are only the criteria that can disqualify a candidate.”

The lawyer also referred to litigation involving the NNPP, the Kano State governorship election and the APC, saying the courts had considered how membership of a political party could be established.

He further recalled arguments made by senior lawyer Wole Olanipekun before the Supreme Court that there were different ways of proving membership of a political party.

“There are other ways you can prove the membership of a political party.”

Ajayi maintained that the Supreme Court’s previous decisions had addressed the issue of party membership and candidate eligibility, including situations where a politician moves from one political party to another.

He, however, noted that the Electoral Act provides specific timelines for certain electoral processes.

Referring to Section 33, which deals with substitution following the withdrawal of a candidate, Ajayi said there is a statutory window within which such substitution must take place.

“If you look at Section 33, where you talk about substitution based on withdrawal, there’s a window there that must be done 90 days before the general election.”

This comes amid the Supreme Court’s restoration of key provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 that had earlier been voided by the Court of Appeal.

On September 24, the Supreme Court allowed an appeal by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026. The apex court held that the disputed provisions were not inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution.

The restored provisions deal with political-party membership registers and candidate nomination. Section 77(5) provides that only members whose names appear on a party’s register submitted to INEC within the stipulated period can vote in party primaries, congresses and conventions, while Section 77(6) requires parties to use the submitted register for those activities.

Section 77(7) provides that a political party that fails to submit its membership register within the prescribed period will not be eligible to field a candidate for an election.

Section 84(2) provides for direct primaries or consensus as methods for nominating candidates.

The Supreme Court ruling followed a July decision by the Court of Appeal, which had struck down the same provisions after Zenith Labour Party challenged their constitutionality.

The Court of Appeal had held that the provisions conflicted with Sections 221 and 222 of the Constitution.