APC Inaugurates Tinubu’s 2027 Campaign Council

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has inaugurated its Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 election, rallying political figures from different parties behind President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid. The inauguration, held on Wednesday at the State House Conference Centre in Abuja, attracted Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda and governors, including Charles Soludo, Ademola Adeleke and Hope Uzodimma, alongside FCT Minister Nyesom Wike. Tinubu said governance would remain his priority, asking to be excused from nationwide campaign tours. He promised that state police would become a reality and expressed optimism about legislation to increase women’s representation in elected institutions. He also warned party members against complacency, urging them to secure votes at the grassroots. Yilwatda highlighted investments in roads, electricity, railways, ports, agriculture and digital connectivity, while urging campaigners to acknowledge challenges affecting Nigerians. Shettima criticised opposition figures Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi over their economic proposals and comparisons with Bangladesh. Soludo pledged APGA’s support for Tinubu, while Wike promised to deliver Rivers State and the FCT. Adeleke argued that four years was insufficient for the President’s reforms to yield their full benefits. Akpabio described the gathering as an unprecedented political coalition, while Abbas urged Nigerians to support the continuation of the administration’s reforms. Campaign Director-General Abdulaziz Yari and presidential adviser Ibrahim Masari also pledged electoral victory for Tinubu.

Opposition figures, however, questioned the administration’s performance and the significance of its expanded political alliance. Atiku, through spokesman Phrank Shaibu, argued that a large campaign council could not erase hunger and economic hardship. He also criticised the use of the Presidential Villa for an APC political event and cited the 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, claiming it recorded 17.9 million additional Nigerians in multidimensional poverty. Meanwhile, Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde’s campaign organisation, operating under the Allied Peoples Movement, described the APC council as a “coalition of failed politicians.” In a statement by its Director of Strategic Communications, Richard Ihediwa, the organisation accused the Tinubu administration of worsening insecurity, unemployment and economic hardship, while citing concerns about illiteracy and declining public confidence. It also referenced a Federal Government disclosure that 70 per cent of Nigerian children under 10 could not read and understand a simple sentence. Tinubu emerged as the APC presidential candidate on May 24, reportedly securing 10.9 million votes in the party’s direct primary across 8,809 wards, and retained Shettima as his running mate on July 10. The campaign council was constituted on August 22, with Tinubu as chairman, Shettima as vice chairman, Yari as Director-General and Uzodimma as secretary. A revised list released on Tuesday added Wike, Soludo and Adeleke ahead of the 2027 general election.

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