• Wike, Adeleke, Dankwambo get roles; Uzodimma retains council secretary
From Romanus Ugwu and Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja; Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure and Lukman Olabiyi
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has broadened President Bola Tinubu’s re-election machinery to accommodate prominent opposition figures in its revised Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), barely a month after its governors rejected alliances capable of weakening the party or undermining its candidates.
The revised list, signed by APC National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, names Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, as campaign coordinator for Rivers State and the FCT, Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke as Osun coordinator, and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo as a council adviser.
Imo State Governor and Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Hope Uzodimma, retains his position as council secretary in the arrangement, which brings politicians from outside the APC into Tinubu’s campaign.
The expansion comes amid reports that the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) may have directed some candidates to submit the names of their proposed polling agents directly to the national secretariat, following concerns about possible internal sabotage in states affected by disputes over party tickets.
• No repeat of 2023 in Lagos, Tompolo urges
In Lagos, leader of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, urged residents to prevent a repeat of the state’s 2023 presidential election outcome, as the movement presented 57 campaign vehicles to state coordinators.
The widening mobilisation also received backing from the Coalition of Nigerian Artisan Associations (CONAA), which pledged at least 15 million votes for Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima and announced a nationwide campaign beginning October 24.
•Opposition figures join campaign council
Under the revised list released by the APC NWC, Tinubu chairs the council, with Shettima and APC National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, as vice chairmen.
Senator Abdul’Aziz Yari remains director-general, while Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin and House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu occupy deputy director-general positions.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole oversees mobilisation, Femi Gbajabiamila heads administration, and James Faleke serves as deputy director-general for election planning, coordination and monitoring.
Minister of Works, David Umahi, is deputy director-general for infrastructure and sensitisation, while Rivers State House of Assembly Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, is South-South deputy coordinator for state assemblies mobilisation.
Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori heads finance, while Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun and Nigeria Revenue Service Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, coordinate fundraising. Obafemi George joins Dankwambo among the advisers, with additional responsibility for media advice.
Festus Keyamo, Abdulmumin Jibrin, Wike’s media aide, Lere Olayinka, and Segun Sowunmi are on the media and communications team, while Dele Alake remains council spokesman.
Former Super Eagles captain Joseph Yobo is deputy director for sports sector mobilisation and Ayiri Emami heads special duties. Former Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is director of stakeholder mobilisation, with former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola as its South-West zonal coordinator. Basiru and Hadiza Bala-Usman serve as deputy secretary and assistant secretary, respectively.
In Osun, Adeleke will lead Tinubu’s campaign rather than Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, a former governor and leading APC figure, underscoring the council’s reach beyond the ruling party.
•Coalition no threat to governors —Wike
Defending the rainbow coalition during his media chat, Wike said APC governors and other stakeholders had nothing to fear, insisting that Tinubu’s re-election required support beyond party lines. He also dismissed former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s prediction that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was better positioned to win the 2027 presidential election.
“If you see that word, PBT/APC, it means those who are supporting the president who are not members of the party but are working together with the party to achieve that purpose.
“The major thing is Mr President. Whatever we are going to do, whoever has any idea or anything to contribute is to the success of Mr President. That is the whole thing.”
APC governors had, after a September meeting in Abuja, distanced themselves from alliances they considered capable of hurting the party’s electoral prospects, a position widely interpreted as a response to Wike’s initiative.
“The governors’ campaign commitment is exclusively to all APC candidates,” Uzodimma had declared.
The inclusion of opposition figures in Tinubu’s council, however, does not by itself establish that the governors have abandoned their opposition to supporting rival candidates in governorship and legislative elections.
Dismissing concerns about divisions, Wike said: “I don’t know what concerns there are. As far as I am concerned, there is no problem.”
He recalled urging FCT stakeholders to support Tinubu and APC National Assembly candidates while allowing supporters of other parties to retain their preferences in other contests.
The approach, he explained, accommodated local political interests while keeping Tinubu’s re-election as the common objective. Politicians outside the APC could therefore contribute to the presidential campaign without abandoning their parties.
That distinction was central to the earlier dispute, with Wike maintaining that support for Tinubu neither made his coalition part of the APC nor prevented the PDP from fielding candidates.
“Most importantly, the rainbow coalition has nothing to do with the APC. Rather, it is our own way of mobilising support across political parties for Mr President, who has done well to deserve a second term.”
Wike argued that such cooperation was not new, noting that politicians had previously backed presidential candidates outside their parties while retaining separate interests at state level.
•Dismisses Amaechi’s Atiku prediction
Responding to a question about whether the emerging opposition alliance involving Atiku and Amaechi posed a serious challenge to Tinubu’s supporters, Wike questioned Amaechi’s political influence and the regional calculations underlying his prediction.
The minister claimed that fewer than 200 people attended a town hall meeting in Cross River State where Amaechi reportedly argued that Atiku had an electoral advantage based on the regional origins of the leading contenders.
“I watched Amaechi. He had a town hall meeting in Cross River. I can tell you the numbers were not up to 200 people,” Wike said.
Recounting Amaechi’s argument, he said the former governor had highlighted the regional identities of Atiku, Tinubu, Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi and former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke before concluding that Atiku was better positioned to win.
Wike challenged the assumption that Atiku’s northern base would automatically translate into victory, citing the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
“In 2023, Atiku ran, Obi ran, Tinubu ran. Who won?” he asked.
Tinubu won that election, with Atiku finishing second and Obi third. Wike nevertheless maintained that the political calculations and alliances ahead of the next presidential contest would differ from those of 2023.
“I have always told you people, 2027 will be totally different from 2023,” he said.
The minister also accused opposition politicians of misrepresenting Tinubu’s performance for electoral gain, insisting that rivalry should not prevent an honest assessment of the administration.
“Whether anybody likes it or not, Mr President has done well,” he said. “Politics must not be played as a do-or-die affair.”
He urged politicians to distinguish legitimate criticism from attempts to discredit opponents and called on Nigerians to scrutinise both the administration’s record and the past decisions and stewardship of those seeking higher office.
•Party moves against internal sabotage
The reported directive represents a departure from the party’s usual practice, under which state chapters compile and submit the names of party agents to the national secretariat in Abuja.
The development was attributed to internal wrangling in some state chapters, particularly where governors’ preferred candidates did not make the party’s list of candidates for the 2027 elections.
A source familiar with the arrangement said the NWC adopted the strategy to forestall attempts to undermine the party and its candidates during the elections.
According to the source, the arrangement was being applied mainly in states where the national leadership suspected that governors were sponsoring candidates on other political parties’ platforms against APC candidates.
The Oodua Progressive Youths League (OPYL) had alleged that some governors whose preferred candidates lost the APC National Assembly primaries directed them to obtain opposition tickets and contest against the ruling party’s candidates.
In a statement signed by its General Secretary, Wale Abdulwaheed, the group further alleged that the governors had reached agreements with some opposition parties over the selection of polling agents.
OPYL claimed that candidates allegedly sponsored on opposition platforms were directed to nominate the governors’ loyalists, who remained APC members, as agents for the ruling party.
The group alleged that those names would subsequently be submitted to the APC national secretariat as the party’s recognised agents in the affected states.
In Ondo State, some political leaders have accused Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of sponsoring National Assembly candidates on other political parties’ platforms.
Aiyedatiwa, however, denied directing any candidate to contest against APC candidates, describing those accusing him of anti-party activities as “naysayers, blackmailers and slanderers.”
“I have zero tolerance for anti-party activities. I have never engaged in anti-party activities in my life,” he said.
•No repeat of 2023 in Lagos —Tompolo
Meanwhile, Tompolo has urged Lagos residents to take advantage of the ongoing continuous voter registration exercise by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and vote massively for Tinubu in 2027.
According to a statement by the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement’s media unit, Tompolo, represented by Kestin Pondi, gave the charge at a campaign rally in Lagos on Tuesday, where 57 campaign vehicles were presented to state coordinators.
“What happened in 2023 must not repeat. He must win convincingly in 2027,” he said.
He described Tinubu as a selfless and courageous leader who pursued bold reforms despite their implications for his re-election prospects, maintaining that the measures were already yielding benefits for Nigerians.
Tompolo attributed Lagos’ development and appeal to Nigerians from different parts of the country to the foundation Tinubu laid as governor between 1999 and 2007, which successive administrations had built upon.
“Lagos is the city for all Nigerians because someone stood firm to restructure and reform it. From the time he came into office in 1999 up to 2007 that he left, Lagos was the envy of other states.
“Today, he has a higher responsibility, an opportunity to replicate the Lagos success story in Nigeria through reforms. There is massive development across the states today because reforms are working.”
He urged Lagos residents and other Nigerians to take the campaign to every household, arguing that Tinubu needed another term to sustain the reforms.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said Nigeria was attaining economic stability under the administration and urged residents to support the President’s re-election.
He accused opposition politicians of pursuing electoral victory without a plan for the country, saying their movement from one party to another demonstrated a lack of consistency.
Sanwo-Olu claimed that Tinubu had constructed more roads in three years than previous administrations, supported students, increased the minimum wage and made funds available for pension payments.
“Why won’t we vote for him? The entire Lagos is for Tinubu. All our votes are for Tinubu. You’ve done it before, you’ll do it again.
“We will touch every corner of Lagos with our message to re-elect Tinubu. Go out and convince everyone that Tinubu is the candidate to vote,” the governor said.
Earlier, the movement’s National Coordinator, Sunday Asuku, urged residents to obtain their PVCs, stressing that electoral mobilisation should be conducted without violence or intimidation.
“We must stand our ground and deliver Tinubu with PVCs, not with guns or intimidation. Lagos must not put their son, Tinubu, to shame.”
Asuku also urged Nigerians to use the 2027 presidential election to retire politicians he described as “serial contesters” and “enemies of Nigeria.”
•Artisans pledge 15m votes
CONAA said its endorsement of Tinubu and Shettima reflected confidence that the administration’s economic reforms, infrastructure investments, education financing and security measures would yield lasting benefits despite the hardship confronting Nigerians.
At a Lagos press conference, its Director-General, Chief Segun Ajibulu, announced that the October 24 mobilisation tour would sensitise artisans and rally support for the ticket.
The briefing, themed “2027 Elections: The Role of Artisans in Electoral Politics,” brought together artisan groups and other organisations from across Nigeria. CONAA comprises associations of mechanics, carpenters, welders, aluminium fabricators, iron benders, bricklayers and other skilled workers.
Acknowledging the country’s difficulties, the coalition said: “There is no doubt that Nigeria is passing through many challenges. Some of these obstacles are historical. They have been there for many years.”
It identified poverty, unemployment, corruption, inadequate housing, terrorism and the challenges of managing Nigeria’s diverse ethnic nationalities as longstanding problems that could not be resolved within a few years.
The coalition maintained that reforms introduced since May 2023 needed time to deliver their full benefits and described the 2027 election as consequential beyond Nigeria.
“As the largest democracy in Africa and being the host of the biggest single concentration of black people all over the world, with over 200 million people, the 2027 election is of significance not only to Africa but to the entire world.”
CONAA said it had established coordinating units in all six geopolitical zones to reach artisans across the 36 states. Its mobilisation strategy includes 10 million educational pamphlets, an internet radio station and social media campaigns explaining government policies and achievements.
It said government initiatives had opened opportunities for artisans to access loans through banks and other financial institutions, adding that improved economic conditions and security would help small businesses thrive.
The coalition cited the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as a significant intervention in expanding access to higher education and backed moves towards state police, arguing that decentralised security could improve investment and business conditions.
It also cited what it described as improved Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) remittances to the Federation Account and growth in foreign reserves.
CONAA endorsed the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and proposed road connections linking Lagos to Sokoto and Calabar to Enugu, saying improved transport would support commerce and artisans’ businesses.
The coalition said reported operations against terrorist groups had strengthened confidence in the government’s capacity to tackle insecurity, which remained a major threat to livelihoods, while sustained policy implementation would expand opportunities for artisans and other small-scale operators.
It maintained that its campaign would give artisans a coordinated role in electoral politics and urged members nationwide to participate.
Ajibulu was accompanied by Nigerian Automobile Technicians Association (NATA) General Secretary, Mr David Ajitumobi; the Vice President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum; and South East Artisan Coalition (SEACO) Chairman, Mr Fred Ojinika.
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