The decision by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to embrace influential opposition figures to help build a winning coalition ahead of the 2027 presidential election has been described as a smart move to win the poll.
Last Tuesday, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike; Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party; and Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) were all included as coordinators of President Bola Tinubu’s campaign in their respective territories in an effort to extend the president’s reach beyond the APC’s traditional political machinery.
The appointments came amid public discontent over economic hardship and security concerns, and an opposition struggling to consolidate into a common front.
Rather than restricting the campaign to party loyalists, the revised presidential campaign council appears designed to draw on political figures whose influence, local structures and relationships could prove useful in states where the APC cannot rely solely on its own organisation.
Despite remaining a PDP member, the former Rivers State governor has been one of Tinubu’s most vocal political allies outside the ruling party since the 2023 election.
His support for Tinubu has also become part of a wider debate over whether politicians can back the president nationally while retaining separate political interests at state level.
His position, however, comes against the backdrop of disagreements within the ruling party over his proposed Rainbow Coalition and the extent to which non-APC politicians should influence the president’s re-election machinery.
Recall that the first step President Tinubu took when he started nursing his second term bid was woo state governors to his APC. Today, the party has 31 governors to help achieve the ambition.
Whether the latest move translates into votes will depend on the willingness and ability of the appointees to mobilise their constituencies, rather than their names appearing on a campaign document.
But many fear that the arrangements can be fragile where allies have competing ambitions, particularly in states where the presidential and governorship contests may pull political actors in different directions.
Time, they say, shall tell.