Several All Progressives Congress (APC) supporters spent Friday night at the Ranchers Bees Stadium and on surrounding streets in Kaduna ahead of the official launch of the party’s presidential campaign by President Bola Tinubu.
The eager supporters made their way into the stadium late Friday to secure seats ahead of the event. By 6 a.m. on Saturday, several others had arrived at the venue, making frantic efforts to gain entry, while another crowd created a carnival-like atmosphere outside the arena.
Many supporters slept on the streets near the stadium to ensure they gained entry ahead of the campaign rally, awaiting the arrival of President Tinubu, who was scheduled to arrive in Kaduna at noon.
The rally marks the flag-off of the APC presidential campaign, drawing party faithful and elected officials from across the seven North-West states – Kano, Jigawa, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and the host state.
Zaidu Bala, a media aide to the Governor of Kebbi State, described the supporters’ vigil at the venue and on the streets as a strong display of political resilience that signalled an APC victory.
He claimed that many were forced to spend the night outdoors because hotels and guest accommodations across Kaduna were fully booked.
“Politics is not for the faint-hearted; any party that does not have resilient and dedicated people like these (who spent the night on the streets) will not win an election in Nigeria.
“Hotel rooms in Kaduna are exhausted; guest accommodations are full because of the love for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” Mr Bala said on Facebook.
Why Kaduna?
A Kaduna-based political analyst, Haruna Ibrahim, told Daily Trust that the choice of Kaduna for the campaign flag-off is strategic because of the state’s position in northern politics.
According to Mr Ibrahim, Kaduna is home to people from different ethnic, religious and social backgrounds, making it a meeting point for political interests across the country.
He said supporters from other northern states could find it easier to travel to Kaduna than some other destinations in the region.
“The rally should hold in Kaduna rather than Sokoto, Zamfara or Katsina states because Kaduna is more or less the centre of northern Nigeria and also a bit safe compared to others,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
He added that people from Bauchi, Gombe, Borno and Yobe might prefer to attend a rally in Kaduna because of its location and transport connections.
Mr Ibrahim also argued that the state’s concentration of security formations could make it a more suitable location for a large political gathering than some other parts of the North-west.
The Saturday’s campaign flag-off in Kaduna came on the heels of heated politics between the ruling APC and the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The ADC accused the ruling party of deploying enormous state resources and security operatives to guard its presidential campaign posters.
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However, APC supporters in the state dismissed the allegations, maintaining that security personnel were not assigned to protect campaign materials, but were stationed at strategic locations to safeguard the public.
In turn, the APC alleged that it had uncovered plots by opposition figures and supporters in the state to deface and destroy its candidate’s billboards to create a false narrative on social media that the party lacks grassroots support in Kaduna.
Why the politics is hot in Kaduna
Governor Uba Sani was widely regarded as former governor Nasir El-Rufai’s political protégé and handpicked successor; but their relationship deteriorated after Mr Sani took office in May 2023.
The division became public in March 2024 during a town hall meeting in Kaduna, where Governor Sani revealed that his administration inherited a staggering debt burden of approximately $587 million in foreign loans, ₦85 billion in domestic debt, and 115 contractual liabilities from Mr El-Rufai’s eight-year tenure – 2015 to 2023.
Mr Sani explained that federal allocations were heavily deducted at source to service these obligations, severely constraining his ability to pay civil servants’ salaries and execute new capital projects.
Following Governor Sani’s statements, the Kaduna State House of Assembly established an ad hoc committee to investigate financial dealings, contract awards, and loan disbursements during the Mr El-Rufai administration, who is now a figure in the opposition ADC.
The committee recommended investigations by anti-graft agencies (such as the EFCC and ICPC) into billions of naira in state spending, effectively ending the alliance between the two political camps. While the APC is flagging its 2027 reelection campaign, Mr El-Rufai is under court-authorised detention, facing corruption charges.
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