President Bola Tinubu has inaugurated the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, directing its members to take his re-election message to every part of the country. He told them not to expect him at every campaign rally, because the duties of his office must come first.
Speaking at the inauguration in Abuja on Wednesday, the President said the demands of governance and the country’s financial obligations could not be put on hold for the 2027 election. He asked party leaders to carry the administration’s message to the grassroots while he attends to the affairs of state.
The ceremony took place as the ruling party steps up preparations for the presidential and National Assembly elections on January 16, 2027. Vice-President Kashim Shettima used the occasion to criticise opposition candidates Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
“The job must go on”
Tinubu said he would still make time to speak directly to Nigerians, even as the council coordinates mobilisation in the states and local government areas.
“Nigeria needs more attention now than ever before. The responsibility of this office does not pause,” he said.
“The job must go on. However, I will still make time to speak directly with Nigerians, even as you lead the campaign in the states and local government areas, so you will excuse me from going everywhere with you.”
He tied his decision to the need to meet financial obligations and keep investors confident. “We have bills to pay. The American creditors cannot wait. We want those investors to come in, be here to stay, to invest for the future of our children,” he said.
The President described the inauguration as a chance to renew the party’s commitment to Nigerians. “We have not gathered merely to inaugurate a council, we have gathered to renew a covenant, a covenant with the Nigerian people,” he said.
He said the APC was entering the contest “strong, united and renewed” but warned against complacency. “I thank all of you for the last election, but no one gets credit for an incomplete assignment. Until you deliver the next election, until you deliver your words, until you deliver the votes, before we can say thank you,” he said.
Tinubu also praised party members for conducting their congresses successfully despite predictions of an internal crisis. “They said there will be implosion. We passed through it. We did not fail,” he said.
Shettima takes on Obi, Atiku
Shettima faulted Obi’s economic prescriptions and his frequent comparisons of Nigeria with Bangladesh, arguing that policies must reflect each country’s circumstances.
“He seems convinced that a size 36 shirt tailored for Bangladesh will somehow fit Nigeria’s size 52 frame,” the Vice-President said. He added that a country of over 250 million people “cannot be governed through borrowed statistics.”
He also dismissed Obi’s claim to have won the 2023 presidential election as a “bogus claim” and “delusion of grandeur.” Obi, then the Labour Party candidate, finished third behind Tinubu and Atiku.
On Atiku’s pledge to restore petrol subsidy if elected, Shettima questioned how it would be funded. “Who pays? Who benefits? And which competing priorities must surrender their funding? A change of ideological wardrobe cannot balance a national budget,” he said.
Atiku has said his proposed subsidy would be production-based, targeted, capped, transparently budgeted and independently audited, and would support domestic refining. On October 9, he criticised the Federal Government’s 30-day petrol discount at NNPC retail outlets as “too limited and selective.”
Wike: Deliver your states
FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, who is coordinating Tinubu’s campaign in Rivers State and the FCT, warned APC governors and council members that their titles count for nothing if they fail to deliver their states.
“If you don’t deliver your state and the President wins, don’t say we have won,” he said. He cited Lagos, saying even the Chief of Staff to the President must show electoral strength at home.
Wike, who remains a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), defended his support for Tinubu. “Democracy is not that if the ruling party is doing well, because you are opposition, you say they are not doing well,” he said.
He praised the President for pursuing state police and said he expected the constitutional process to be concluded within months. He also pledged to deliver Rivers and the FCT, saying the council would return to the Presidential Villa after the election “to say thank you to the Almighty God.”
APGA, governors back Tinubu
Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo, representing the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), pledged the party’s support. He said the presence of about 33 governors at the event showed an unprecedented consensus around the President. APGA, he noted, was registered in 2002, 12 years before the APC emerged.
“We are with you. We are a partner in this journey back to the Aso Rock,” Soludo said.
Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, speaking for the Progressive Governors Forum, said the APC controls 31 of the 36 states and has elected chairmen in about 685 of the 774 local government areas. He credited Tinubu’s reforms, including subsidy removal, foreign exchange changes and tax reforms, with producing early results despite the hardship.
He cited the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, which he said has benefited over 1.5 million students with more than N350 billion disbursed, as well as the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme covering all 8,809 wards.
“The question Nigerians will answer in January is whether we build on the foundation or whether we should abandon the foundation,” Uzodimma said. He urged Tinubu to stay focused on governance and leave “the heavy lifting of this campaign” to party leaders, while warning that the party’s numerical strength does not guarantee victory.
Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke said Tinubu deserves re-election because four years would not be enough to complete his transformation agenda.
Akpabio, Yilwatda speak
Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the National Assembly is “solidly behind” the President’s re-election bid.
APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda urged the council to acknowledge the government’s challenges while presenting its case. He said the campaign would rest on “a clear record, an honest assessment of the challenges and a credible vision for the future.”
The council is expected to rely on governors, lawmakers, local government chairmen and party executives to mobilise support across states and wards.
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