The Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, has emerged as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the 2027 election after polling 199,483 votes in the party’s primary election held yesterday.
Chairman of the Electoral Committee, Aniekan Sunday Ekpo, who announced the result in Abakaliki, declared Nwifuru winner and returned him as the party’s candidate.

I hereby certify that I am the returning officer for the Ebonyi State Governorship Primary held on the 21st day of May, 2026, and the aspirants scored the following votes.

‎‎“In this case, we have one aspirant, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, and having satisfied the APC constitution and guidelines and scored the highest number of votes, he is hereby declared the winner of today’s primary election and is returned elected and nominated as the governorship candidate of the party in Ebonyi State,” Ekpo announced.

Ekpo further announced that the governor secured a total of 199,483 votes in the exercise.

Reacting to the outcome, the Ebonyi State Chairman of the APC, Stanley Okoro Emegha, described Nwifuru’s emergence as expected, citing what he called the governor’s developmental strides in the state.

‎‎“This is not a surprise to all of us. We must thank the committee that came to monitor this exercise. It is not a surprise to Ebonyi people,” Emegha said.

‎‎He commended the governor’s leadership style, saying: “He has done so much wonderful work that if other states emulate Chief Ogbonna Nwifuru, the poorly written story of Nigeria will become a thing of the past because governance is all about development, and we are witnessing it in Ebonyi State.”

‎‎Emegha also disclosed that several youth groups mounted pressure on the governor to seek re-election.

‎‎“We thank God for touching his mind to accept because it seemed he was not interested. I know the pressure from many youth groups who compelled him to contest whether he liked it or not,” he added.

‎The APC chairman noted that the party remains open to appeals from any aggrieved member dissatisfied with the conduct of the primary.