‘Don’t believe it’ – Tunji Alausa denies planning to resign, vie for Lagos guber

Tunji Alausa, the education minister, has rejected reports that he is planning to resign from the federal executive council to pursue a governorship bid in Lagos.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Alausa said he remains in office and continues to carry out his duties at the federal ministry of education.

“We’re still hard at work here at the FME, don’t believe the rumours,” he wrote.

According to the 2027 election timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), political parties are expected to conduct their primary elections between April 23 and May 30.

This means political appointees seeking elective offices would need to resign from their positions to enable them to contest and secure their parties’ tickets ahead of the 2027 elections.

Section 77 (2) of the Electoral Act, 2026, also mandates political parties to submit a comprehensive digital membership register to the electoral umpire at least 21 days before their primaries.

The register must contain name, sex, date of birth, address, state, local government, ward, polling unit, national identity number and photograph of members in both hard and soft copies.

The law states that only members whose names are contained in the register shall be eligible to vote and be voted for in party primaries, congresses and conventions.