All Progressives Congress

The year prior to the APC primaries were beset by party infighting between factions led by Ikechi Emenike and Donatus Nwankpa, culminating in two parallel party congresses in October 2021.^[36] Analysts contest that the party crisis had to be resolved if the APC was to be competitive in the general election.^[37] Emenike's grouping eventually won out and was recognized by the national party in February 2022 but the party infighting continued until the primary. As primaries neared, Emenike and state party chairman Kingsley Ononogbu stated that the primary would not be zoned and would open to all aspirants.^[38]

On 20 April 2022, the APC National Executive Committee announced the party's schedule for gubernatorial primaries, setting its expression of interest form price at ₦10 million and nomination form price at ₦40 million with a 50% nomination form discount for candidates younger than 40 while women and candidates with disabilities get free nomination forms. Forms were to be sold from 26 April to 6 May until the deadline was later extended to 10 May then 12 May.^[39] After the submission of nomination forms by 13 May, candidates were screened by a party committee on 14 and 15 May while 16 May was the date for the screening appeal process.^[40] Ward congresses and LGA congresses were set for between 7 and 9 May to elect delegates for the primary. Candidates approved by the screening process advanced to a primary set for 26 May, in concurrence with other APC gubernatorial primaries; challenges to the result could be made the next day.^{[41][42][43][44]}

On the primary date, two parallel primaries were held with Emenike's grouping holding an indirect primary at the Chidiebere Arena while the other candidates held a direct primary (citing a national APC directive for a direct primary in Abia) that carried on into the next day. After both primaries were peacefully held, the Chidiebere Arena primary ended in Emenike winning by a wide margin while the direct primary resulted in a victory for former minister Uche Ogah.^[5][6] It was expected that the APC National Working Committee and/or litigation would decide which primary was legitimate but the state party quickly lined up behind Emenike.^[45][5][46] When Ogah sued to prevent Emenike's recognition, a Court of Appeal sided with Emenike and threw out the lawsuit.^[47] In mid-August, Emenike selected Gloria Akara—a clergywoman from Ukwa East LGA—as his running mate.^[48] Another lawsuit against Emenike, from Daniel Eke, was dismissed by a High Court in October.^[49] The Emenike candidacy was derailed in November when Ogah—who had appealed the previous judgement against him—won his case before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, declaring Emenike's nomination invalid and affirming Ogah's nomination.^[8] However, the next month, a Court of Appeal ruling overturned that decision and reinstated Emenike as the legitimate nominee.^[9]

All Progressives Grand Alliance

On 25 March 2022, the national APGA announced its primary schedule, setting its expression of interest form price at ₦3 million and the nomination form price at ₦12 million with a 50% discount for women candidates and candidates with disabilities.^[60] Forms were to be sold from 29 March to 11 April but the deadline was extended to 15 April;^[61] after the purchase of forms, gubernatorial candidates were screened by a party committee on 22 and 23 April while the screening appeal process was held on 5 May. Ward congresses were set for 10 May to elect delegates for the primary. Candidates approved by the screening process advanced to a primary set for 29 May, in concurrence with all other APGA gubernatorial primaries; challenges to the result could be made on 31 May.^[62][63]

On the primary date, the four candidates contested an indirect primary that ended with Gregory Ibe emerging as the PDP nominee after results showed Ibe winning around 54% of the delegates' votes. In his acceptance speech, Ibe called for his opponents to unify the party but one of them, Ijioma Nwokoro Ijioma, immediately rejected the results.^[10] Both of the other opponents later also rejected Ibe's win and separately went to court to challenge the results.^[64] In July, Ibe's running mate was announced as Obinna Ichita—a MHA.^[65] However, on December 1, Udensi's lawsuit was successful as a Federal High Court ruling annulled the primary and ordered APGA to conduct a new primary within fourteen days.^[11] The party stated its intent to appeal the ruling instead of holding a new primary.^[66] However, its appeal was dismissed by a Court of Appeal judgment on 8 February 2023 and, since the High Court's fourteen days limit had elapsed, the judgment also barred APGA from fielding a gubernatorial nominee in the election.^[12] Ibe rejected the ruling and immediately began to appeal process which led to the reinstatement of Ibe as nominee.^[67][68]

People's Democratic Party

Ahead of the primary, arguments over zoning starkly divided the state PDP as groups from each senatorial district separately demanded different zoning arrangements with groups from the Southern district attempting to keep the primary open and those from the Central district lobbying for the nomination to be zoned to the centre along with those from the Northern district, whose turn it is based on the previous agreement.^[72] Eventually, the party zoned its nomination to both the Northern and Central districts in late March 2022.^[73] The decision immediately elevated the intraparty strife as Northern groups protested the inclusion of the Central district in what was termed an "abnormal novelty" meant to allow a central candidate Ikpeazu supported to run.^[74] Southern PDP stakeholders also rejected the arrangement with candidate Enyinnaya Abaribe describing it as unjust imposition meant to exclude him from the primary.^[75]

Another cause of internal party rifts was Ikpeazu's alleged attempts to impose his preferred candidate upon the party, with opponents accusing him of unduly supporting either optometrist Uche Ikonne or his former aide Chinenye Nwogu.^[76] The alleged endorsement of Ikonne caused even greater turmoil as Ikonne is not only from the Central district but is also a member of the Ukwa-Ngwa ethnic subgroup, just like Ikpeazu.^[77] While Ukwa-Ngwa bodies dismissed objections to consecutive Ukwa-Ngwa governors and lined up behind Ikonne, other candidates vehemently opposed what was termed subethnic "self-succession."^[78]

In the days before the primary, the party crisis deepened as several governorship aspirants and other stakeholders rejected the ad hoc delegate list as fabricated and accused bad actors of planning on doctoring the statutory delegate list as well.^[82] Analysts noted that if the allegations were proven true, the Abia PDP was risking disqualification by using unelected delegates.^[83] When their appeals to the national party for intervention failed, seven candidates withdrew on the date of the primary in protest of its conduct including Abaribe and Oko Chukwu.^[84] Ikonne ended up winning the nomination easily with over 80% of the votes cast.^[13] However, the fiery primary and party crisis around it caused massive divides within the Abia PDP with Abaribe defecting to APGA the day after the primary.^[85] In June, Ikonne selected Okey Igwe—MHA for Umunneochi—as his running mate.

However, Ikonne's death on 25 January 2023 forced the PDP into a new nomination process less than two months before the election in addition to vacating Igwe's nomination.^[96][97] On 27 January, the state PDP announced the first part of the new gubernatorial primary schedule, with expression of interest and nomination forms being sold until 1 February. The next day, aspirants must present themselves to the State Working Committee at the State Party Secretariat.^[15] Pre-primary analysis mainly focused on the losing aspirants from the first primary that had remained in the PDP along with reports that state party leadership had held several meetings about the primary throughout the state.^[98] One of these meetings, attended by Ikpeazu and several prospective candidates, resulted in the micro-zoning of the nomination to the Isiala Ngwa North LGA—Ikonne's LGA—on 30 January despite renewed calls for zoning the nomination to the North;^[99][100] candidates from outside of Isiala Ngwa North were allowed to contested though. Pre-primary analysis reviewed the complicated circumstances of the primary but revealed that the party intended on using the controversial delegate list from the May primary along with reports that Ikpeazu and other members of party leadership had decided on Okey Ahiwe—Ikpeazu's Chief of Staff—as their pick for the nomination.^[101] On primary day, five candidates contested an indirect primary at the Umuahia Township Stadium resulted in Ahiwe emerging as the PDP nominee after results showed him winning over 93% of the delegates' votes.^[16][102] Later reporting revealed that delegates had been bribed to support Ahiwe and none of the unsuccessful aspirants conceded to Ahiwe after the announcement of results.^[103] In the days after the primary, reporting revealed that Ikpeazu planned to drop Ikonne's running mate—Okey Igwe—in favour of Jasper Uche to placate the Theodore Orji-led intraparty bloc.^[104] Although Igwe loudly protested the move and claimed that his nomination had not been voided by Ikonne's death, the PDP submitted Uche's name to INEC and he was listed as the deputy gubernatorial nominee.^[105][106]

Minor parties

Polling

Electoral timetable

On 26 February 2022, the Independent National Electoral Commission released the timetable, setting out key dates and deadlines for the election.^[2] Months later on 27 May 2022, INEC made a slight revision to the timetable, allowing parties extra time to conduct primaries.^[126]

• 28 February 2022 – Publication of Notice of Election
• 4 April 2022 – First day for the conduct of party primaries
• 9 June 2022^{[lower-alpha 6]} – Final day for the conduct of party primaries, including the resolution of disputes arising from them
• 1 July 2022 – First day for submission of nomination forms to INEC via the online portal
• 15 July 2022 – Final day for submission of nomination forms to INEC via the online portal
• 12 October 2022 – Commencement of the official campaign period
• 16 March 2023^{[lower-alpha 7]} – Final day of the official campaign period

Results