Isaac Samuel
President Bola Tinubu will launch his 2027 re-election campaign in Kaduna on October 24, the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, has disclosed.
Yari announced this on Friday after briefing the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on preparations for the campaign and the proposed timetable for visits to states across the country.
He said the inaugural meeting of the campaign council would hold on October 14 at the State House Banquet Hall, ahead of the formal commencement of campaign activities.
He said: “By God’s grace, his team, I, and Mr President himself, we have agreed on how it’s going to be done.
“We have put forward a proposal. The inaugural meeting [of the campaign council] is going to be done on the 14th of this month. That’s next Wednesday at the State House Banquet Hall, and by God’s grace, on the 24th of October, we’re going to do our flag-off campaign in Kaduna.”
He added that the President had approved the proposed schedule of state visits, with Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and Maiduguri, Borno State, expected to be the next destinations after Kaduna.
According to him, the full campaign timetable would be made public after the inauguration of the council.
“We have the timetable, and we are going to make it available after the inauguration. But this has all been understood and approved by the team of Mr President and I,” he said.
The former Zamfara State governor expressed confidence in Tinubu’s chances of securing re-election, arguing that a presidential candidate needed substantial political support in both northern and southern Nigeria to win the election.
He questioned whether opposition figures, including the presidential candidates of the African Democratic Congress and the Nigeria Democratic Congress, had sufficient political control across the two regions to defeat Tinubu.
“Can the ADC candidate today in the southern part of the country beat his chest and say he has control of one state in the South? And I don’t think Peter Obi, who used to be my colleague, can beat his chest. Can he say he has control of one state in northern Nigeria?” Yari asked.
He argued that strong support in one region alone would not be enough to secure victory in a presidential election.
“So this calculation shows us that even if you have control of 80 per cent of the South, if you don’t have anything in the North, you cannot make it.
“If you have 80 per cent of control of the North, if you don’t have any state in the South, you can’t make it, and that’s what it is,” he said.
Yari cited the electoral experience of former President Muhammadu Buhari, arguing that his strong support base in northern Nigeria had not been sufficient to guarantee victory without broader national support.
He said Tinubu, by contrast, enjoyed support across both regions, claiming that the President had the backing of more than 10 states in the South and more than 10 in the North.
“This is calculation, it is not rocket science,” he added.
APC highlights Tinubu’s record
Yari also defended the President’s performance, saying the administration had made progress in addressing the challenges it inherited and that its record would form part of the campaign message.
“He has turned around the situation that he met on ground, and the economy is moving,” he said.
The APC campaign chief added that the ruling party would focus on its achievements rather than rely solely on promises to voters.
“So I think we have done enough that we can tell our opponents about what we did. We are not promising. We are doing it, and we are going to continue,” Yari said.
Tinubu appointed Yari as Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council on August 22, 2026, with Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma named as secretary.
The President chairs the council, while Vice President Kashim Shettima and APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda serve as vice chairmen.
