Breaking: APC Congress Timetable Triggers Power Struggle as New Governors Demand Control of Party Structures

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By Isimen Oboh

There is an intense tension in the All Progressives Congress (APC) nationwide, over control of party structures—especially by the defected governors. This insiders told Midwest Herald led to the decision to conduct fresh elections for party offices across boards.

The release of a ‘Draft Timetable’, yesterday for congresses has intensified the internal tensions within the ruling party, with newly defected governors demanding full control of party structures in their states ahead of the high-stakes congresses and 2026 National Convention.

The timetable, which will run from December 1, 2025 to March 28, 2026, has opened a fresh battle line between long-standing party power blocs and governors, along with others who recently joined the APC and are insisting on the right to dictate the composition of party executives at the ward, local government and state levels.

The process will begin with membership e-registration from December 1, 2025 to January 30, 2026—a stage insiders say is already under pressure as rival camps position to influence and ‘capture’ the party register and delegate lists.

Ward congresses have been fixed for February 18, 2026, followed by LGA congresses on February 20, exercises that party sources warn could witness parallel congresses and legal disputes, especially in states where defected governors are seeking to dismantle existing party structures loyal to old power centres. Appeals are scheduled to conclude by February 21, 2026.

The fault lines are expected to widen during the State Congresses on March 7, 2026, regarded as the decisive battleground for control of APC machinery. Key informant within the party say governors who recently joined the APC have demanded that the national leadership and state should recognise and accommodate their political structures as the authentic party leadership in their states, arguing that electoral victory and control of government must translate into control of the party.

The struggle will escalate further at the zonal congresses on March 21, 2026, holding in Ibadan, Enugu, Rivers/Cross River, Kaduna, Gombe/Bauchi and Nasarawa, before climaxing at the APC National Convention from March 25 to March 28, 2026, where new national officers will emerge.

Although officially described as a draft, the timetable has already triggered intense lobbying, closed-door negotiations and alignments among governors, ministers and entrenched party leaders, raising fears within the APC of a repeat of past congress crises if the demands of defected governors and existing party stakeholders are not carefully managed.

In Edo State, the exercise may expose the ongoing grumbling among APC members who are complaining about compensation for their contribution to the party’s victories at the polls.

While in Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa state and others, the congresses may give the opposition the filtering ground to regroup opposition camps.