The 1.9 Million Ghost Delegates: APC’s Primary Math That Broke Nigeria’s Brain
You can’t always prove to be smart in everything. APC just proved it... On Sunday, May 25, 2026, Pius Anyim announced that President Bola Tinubu polled 10,999,162 votes in the APC presidential primary to beat Stanley Osifo’s 16,503. Direct primary. 8,809 wards. 36 states + FCT.
By Good Governance Group
You can’t always prove to be smart in everything. APC just proved it... On Sunday, May 25, 2026, Pius Anyim announced that President Bola Tinubu polled 10,999,162 votes in the APC presidential primary to beat Stanley Osifo’s 16,503. Direct primary. 8,809 wards. 36 states + FCT. Historic. Tidy. Except for one problem: the numbers don’t add up, and the math is now a legal problem*.
1.The Magical 1.9 Million: Where did they come from? In 2023, APC boasted 41 million registered members. After defections, purges, and “glitches,” the party now admits it has 12,643,316 registered members. Osun’s collation officer said the state has 109,806 digitally registered members.
So how does Tinubu get 10.99 million votes from a party register of 9 million? That’s 110.9% turnout. In a direct primary. With no opposition voters. With Stanley Osifo scoring zero in 21 states.
APC’s own 2026 register submitted to INEC put membership at 9 million, according to the civil society petition now circulating. Even if we use the 12.6m figure, you’re telling Nigerians that 87% of every card-carrying APC member in Nigeria, from Maiduguri to Brass, showed up on Saturday, May 23, 2026, and all voted Tinubu except 16,503?
Impossible. In 2023, Tinubu got 8.79 million votes in the actual presidential election. Now he scores 10.99 million in an internal primary? Nigerians are asking the obvious: Did 1.9 million ghosts join APC between the register and the ballot?
2.*Did APC and Tinubu Violate the Electoral Act and Party Constitution. Yes, if the numbers are false. Section 84(5) of the Electoral Act, 2022 as amended requires primaries to be conducted in accordance with the party’s constitution and guidelines. APC’s guidelines say only financially up-to-date members vote.
If 10.99m voted but only 9m or 12.6m exist on the register, then either:
1. Non-members voted — illegal.
2. Figures were inflated — fraudulent.
3. The register is fake — also illegal.
Any of the three violates Section 84(13), which says INEC shall not include a candidate nominated through an invalid primary. The Electoral Act, 2026 that Tinubu signed in February makes it even clearer: direct primaries must be verifiable.
Should Tinubu be disqualified if the numbers contradict the register? Legally, yes. Section 29(6) empowers a court to disqualify a candidate if information submitted is false. Section 84(14) allows an aspirant to challenge the process in Federal High Court.
A civil society group has already threatened to sue. If discovery shows APC’s INEC register ≠ 10.99m, then the primary is void. If the primary is void, Tinubu has no ticket. INEC can’t list him for 2027. That’s the law, not opinion.
And remember: 100% turnout is fiction. In Osun, 109,806 members, 100,880 accredited. That’s 91.8% turnout. For a primary. On a Saturday. Without transport allowance. In Nigeria. Even INEC doesn’t get 40% in general elections.
4. The Deeper Shame: You can’t rig a primary and preach democracy.*
Tinubu said he was “very, very satisfied” with the process. APC Chairman Yilwatda called it a “dress rehearsal” for 2027.
If this is the rehearsal, 2027 will be a coronation. Because if you can manufacture 10.99m votes internally, what stops you from manufacturing 50m in January?
The ADC already called the APC primaries “amusing, laughable”. But it’s not funny. It’s precedent. When the ruling party normalizes impossible numbers, it tells every governor, every REC, every collation officer: _inflate, and nothing will happen.
Smart is not the same as wise. You can fool some people. You can fool your party. You can’t fool arithmetic. 12.6m members cannot produce 10.99m votes unless Nigeria has discovered voter turnout technology unknown to Switzerland.
The lesson is old: “You can’t always prove to be smart in everything.” In trying to show strength, APC showed its hand. In trying to bury Osifo, they exhumed the question of legitimacy.
A civil society group is heading to court. More will follow. And as the days go by, the “sham APC presidential primary” will move from Twitter to the Federal High Court. Because numbers don’t lie. People do. If the register says 9m or 12.6m, and the result says 10.99m, then someone should explain the 1.9m ghosts. Or INEC should explain why they’re on the 2027 ballot.
Tinubu may have won the primary. But APC just lost the argument that it can conduct a credible election. And that loss will echo in January 2027.
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