The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has formally constituted its Presidential Campaign Council ahead of the 2027 general elections, with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima taking the positions of chairman and vice chairman respectively.
The announcement, contained in a State House statement issued on Saturday, August 22, 2026, places former Zamfara State Governor, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, as Director-General of the campaign council, while Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, will serve as secretary.
APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, is also listed as a vice chairman, while a team of senior party figures has been assembled to coordinate mobilisation, administration, election planning, legal affairs and media strategy.
APC deploys heavyweight political machinery
The campaign council includes Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni as deputy director-generals for the southern and northern zones. Senators Opeyemi Bamidele and Jibril Barau will also participate in coordinating the two zones.
Former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has been assigned responsibility for mobilisation, while the President’s Chief of Staff will oversee administration.
James Abiodun Faleke, who played a prominent role in the APC’s 2022/2023 presidential campaign, returns as deputy director-general for election planning, coordination and monitoring.
The legal directorate will be headed by Muiz Adeyemi Banire, supported by Dr Liman Hassan and Babatunde Ogala as deputies, alongside other senior legal and political figures.
Media battle takes centre stage
The APC has also assembled a formidable media and strategic communications team as it prepares to defend the Tinubu administration’s record before Nigerians.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi, will serve as coordinating director for Media and Strategic Communication, working alongside Dele Alake, Bayo Onanuga and Lanre Issa-Onilu.
The directorate also includes Tunde Rahman, Sunday Dare, Daniel Bwala and Felix Morka, while Segun Dada returns as Director of New Media.
Dele Alake will lead a five-member team of presidential campaign spokespersons, alongside Alwan Hassan, Ayobami Oyalowo, Kemi Asekun-Shittu and Adamu Fanda.
The emphasis on media, new media and strategic communication suggests that the APC expects the 2027 contest to be fought not only at rallies and polling units, but also aggressively across television, newspapers and digital platforms.
Tinubu challenges APC to sell his record
President Tinubu, according to the statement signed by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, charged members of the campaign council to work tirelessly to secure victory for the APC in the January 2027 elections.
Tinubu argued that his administration had fulfilled its campaign promises and placed Nigeria on the path of economic recovery.
He urged campaign officials to showcase what he described as the administration’s achievements and convince Nigerians that the country was emerging from its economic difficulties.
However, the APC’s optimistic assessment is likely to face a formidable test from opposition parties and civil society groups, which have continued to question the government’s economic policies, cost of living pressures, insecurity, unemployment, governance and allegations of corruption.
The real campaign is with the Nigerian people
Beyond the impressive list of political heavyweights unveiled by the APC, the 2027 election will ultimately be decided by ordinary Nigerians at polling units across the country.
The central political question facing the APC is whether its campaign message of economic progress will resonate with citizens who are still struggling with the high cost of food, transportation, housing, healthcare and other basic necessities.
For the opposition, the campaign presents an opportunity to turn public dissatisfaction into a political movement centred on accountability and change.
The APC, on the other hand, will be seeking to persuade voters that its economic reforms require more time to produce their promised benefits and that the country is already beginning to emerge from what the President described as a “dark tunnel.”
A battle over records, trust and the future
The 2027 presidential contest is therefore shaping up to be more than a conventional battle between political parties. It is increasingly becoming a contest over competing narratives about Nigeria’s direction.
The APC will campaign on continuity, reforms and what it describes as economic progress. The opposition is expected to campaign on the hardship experienced by citizens, accountability, institutional reform and the demand for a different style of governance.
With the APC now unveiling its campaign structure, the political machinery for the 2027 contest is clearly moving into a higher gear.
But ultimately, the decisive campaign council will not sit in the State House or at the APC national secretariat.
It will be the Nigerian people.
Their votes—and their judgment of the Tinubu administration’s record—will determine whether the APC retains power or whether Nigerians choose a new political direction in 2027.
