According to a report by Daily Post on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Nentawe Yilwatda, has reacted to controversies surrounding the vote counting process during the party’s presidential primary election.
The clarification followed the circulation of several viral videos from the exercise showing collation officers announcing figures in a manner many Nigerians considered unusual.
In some of the clips shared online, officials appeared to skip numbers while announcing results, triggering widespread reactions and criticism across social media platforms.
One of the most discussed incidents reportedly occurred during the collation process in Abia State, where the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, was seen directing a collation officer to begin the counting exercise.
According to the report, the officer allegedly started with the figure 11 before suddenly moving to 1,013, then 2,400 and later 7,000 while announcing the result.
The video quickly generated public concern, with many Nigerians questioning the credibility and accuracy of the collation process used during the primary election.
Reacting to the controversy, Yilwatda stated that the official records available to the party did not align with the figures being circulated in the viral videos.
He explained that the election was conducted at the ward level across Abia State and argued that the voting strength in the wards did not support the numbers announced in the footage.
According to him, no single ward in the state had up to 7,000 registered voters participating in the exercise.
The APC chairman insisted that the party’s official data reflected a different outcome from what was portrayed online and suggested that some of the videos may not accurately represent the actual collation process.
“That’s the data we have. If you know, people can mimic counting at any point, people can do their drama, but I work with data,” he stated.
