Confusion and anxiety trailed the conduct of the House of Representatives primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Taraba State on Saturday, following the late arrival of election materials and members of the party’s electoral committee.
Party members and aspirants across the state expressed frustration after the primary election, earlier scheduled for May 15, 2026, and later shifted to Saturday, May 16, failed to hold as expected.
The committee saddled with the responsibility of conducting the primary election reportedly arrived in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, at about 2 p.m. on Saturday with election materials, a development many party faithful said made it practically impossible to distribute materials to all the 168 wards across the state before nightfall.
The electoral committee was said to have landed at the Danbaba Suntai Airport shortly before 2 p.m. and proceeded directly to Taraba Motel, where members of the APC State Working Committee (SWC) were already waiting.
Confirming the arrival of the committee and election materials, the Publicity Director of the APC in Taraba State, Mr. Aaron Atimas, maintained that the delay would not disrupt the conduct of the exercise.
However, many party members strongly disagreed, alleging that the late arrival of materials could compromise the credibility of the process.
“Why are the election materials coming late, how can they take the materials to places like Gembu, at Mambila Plateau, Kurmi, Takum, Ibi? These are places that take over 10 hours to get to the wards,” a party member, Jeremiah Ashu, queried.
Amid the uncertainty, an aspirant seeking to represent the Jalingo/Yorro/Zing Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Liya Samuel Lucy, raised concern over the failure of the election to hold as scheduled.
Lucy said aspirants and party members waited throughout Saturday for officials from the APC national secretariat to commence the exercise, but nothing happened.
Speaking with our correspondent, she appealed to the National Chairman of the APC, Nentawe Yilwatda, to intervene and ensure proper communication with aspirants and stakeholders in the state.
According to her, the silence from the electoral committee since arriving in Taraba had created uncertainty and suspicion among party members.
She argued that as Nigeria’s ruling party, the APC should demonstrate transparency and fairness in its internal electoral process.
“Am calling on our national chairman of the great party, the APC to ensure that a date has been fixed which is communicated to all aspirants in the state, the silence from the electoral committee is not good enough for we the aspirants.
“The committee arrived in the state, proceeded to meet the State Working Committee, we did not hear from them, there was no press briefing on why the election did not hold on Saturday, they did not tell the people of Taraba state when the election will be conducted.
“We are in the dark about the whole process and we need clearance from the national chairman,” Lucy stated.
As of the time of filing this report, the APC electoral committee had yet to officially announce a new date for the conduct of the primary election in Taraba State, leaving aspirants and party supporters uncertain about the next line of action.
