Tinubu’s 2027 Re-election Bid: Opposition Figures Join Revised APC Campaign Council
President Bola Tinubu's 2027 re-election campaign is adopting a broad-based strategy, incorporating key opposition figures and legislative leaders into its revised Presidential Campaign Council. This move aims to build a powerful coalition across party lines, leveraging local influence and structures despite internal APC disagreements and existing political rivalries. The council, featuring prominent appointments like Nyesom Wike and Ademola Adeleke, is set for inauguration on October 14th.
President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign is expanding beyond the All Progressives Congress (APC), with the party’s revised Presidential Campaign Council incorporating serving governors and politicians affiliated with opposition parties. The appointments bring together figures from different political platforms, including Nyesom Wike, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, alongside Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party and Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Former Gombe State Governor and serving PDP senator Ibrahim Dankwambo has also been named an adviser to the council.
The arrangement broadens the campaign’s political composition as Tinubu seeks another term amid public concerns over economic hardship and insecurity. Under the revised structure, Wike will coordinate the campaign in Rivers State and the FCT, while Adeleke and Soludo will oversee mobilisation in Osun and Anambra states, respectively. Their inclusion brings political figures with distinct party affiliations and state-level constituencies into the campaign, although the appointments do not mean they have left their respective parties.
Wike has defended the arrangement, saying Tinubu’s campaign should accommodate people outside the APC who are willing to support the President’s re-election bid. He argued that backing a presidential candidate does not require politicians to abandon their party identities or their ambitions in state and legislative elections.
The cross-party arrangement has also raised questions about internal party interests and the practical limits of cooperation between politicians who remain affiliated with different parties. The appointments place Wike, Adeleke, Soludo and Dankwambo within a campaign structure led by the APC, despite their separate political affiliations. How the arrangement will operate alongside their existing party commitments remains an important issue as preparations for the 2027 elections continue. The revised council therefore reflects the APC’s stated effort to widen participation in Tinubu’s campaign, while leaving questions about coordination and competing political interests to be resolved.