The All Progressives Congress (APC) has formally unveiled its Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 general election, placing former Zamfara State Governor, Senator Abdul’aziz Yari, at the centre of its electoral operation as Director-General.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will chair the council, with Vice President Kashim Shettima and APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, serving as vice chairmen. Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma will serve as secretary.
The council brings together governors, senators, ministers, party leaders, lawyers, media professionals, political strategists and grassroots mobilisers from across the country.
In political terms, the APC has assembled its electoral war machine.
But beyond the personalities and political calculations lies a more fundamental question: what exactly is this machine being built to win — another election, or the confidence of Nigerians through demonstrable performance?
That distinction could define the character of Nigeria’s 2027 elections.
From Campaign Democracy to Performance Democracy
For decades, Nigeria has operated what may fairly be described as Campaign Democracy — a system in which enormous resources, energy, money, propaganda, mobilisation and political emotion are deployed to win elections, while comparatively little attention is paid to creating measurable obligations between elected officials and the citizens who gave them power.
The result is a democracy that becomes highly active before election day but frequently becomes less responsive after polling ends.
The 2027 election must not become another chapter in that cycle.
Yari Takes the Spotlight
With his appointment as Director-General, Senator Abdul’aziz Yari becomes one of the most prominent public faces of the APC’s 2027 campaign.
His emergence deserves scrutiny — not because he is a Muslim or because he comes from northern Nigeria, but because Nigerians have the right to examine the political philosophy, antecedents, record and priorities of anyone entrusted with helping secure another national mandate.
One historical clarification, however, is necessary.
Yari did not introduce Sharia in Zamfara State. That development occurred under former Governor Ahmed Sani Yerima in 1999, when Zamfara became the first state to extend Sharia into the criminal justice system.
Yari inherited that political and institutional legacy; he did not originate it.
That distinction matters because accountability must be rooted in facts. Nigerians cannot demand truth from political leaders while relying on historical inaccuracies to make political arguments.
The broader questions, however, remain legitimate.
What does the appointment of a northern political heavyweight signify within a campaign already led by a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket? What coalition is the APC building for 2027? Which political and ideological tendencies will wield influence within it? And what does the emerging configuration mean for Nigeria as a plural and multi-religious nation?
These are legitimate questions in a democracy.
Concern Without Caricature
Concern about the possible influence of political Islam, religious mobilisation or fundamentalist tendencies should not be confused with hostility toward Muslims.
No Nigerian should be denied political rights because of his or her faith.
The concern should instead be whether any religious or ideological tendency — Muslim, Christian or otherwise — could gain disproportionate influence over the Nigerian state.
Nigeria cannot become a prize to be conquered by any religion or ideology.
The country belongs to all its citizens.
The strongest protection against religious domination is therefore not counter-domination by another faith, but constitutional citizenship, equality before the law and measurable democratic performance.
Let the Record Speak
President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima constitute Nigeria’s first elected Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket since the return to civilian rule in 1999.
The appropriate response should be neither hysteria nor complacency.
The question is simple: what has the administration done with the mandate it received?
If it has performed, its achievements should be acknowledged.
If it has failed, it should be held accountable.
Religion must never become an excuse for poor governance, a shield against scrutiny or a political weapon used to distract citizens from the performance of government.
With Yari now leading the campaign machinery, Nigerians should look beyond personalities and ask what the campaign is actually offering.
Is the APC asking citizens to vote for a person, a party, a region, a religion — or a measurable record of governance?
Nigeria Needs a Performance Manifesto
The APC has assembled a formidable political structure.
Yari brings political experience. The council includes governors, senators, ministers, lawyers, strategists, media professionals and grassroots organisers who understand the mechanics of elections.
But Nigeria needs more than people who know how to win elections.
It needs people who understand how to make democracy deliver results.
If the APC seeks another mandate for President Tinubu, it should publish a Performance Manifesto answering straightforward questions:
– What did the administration promise?
– What has it delivered?
– What remains outstanding?
– How much was budgeted?
– How much was actually spent?
– What did the expenditure produce?
– Who benefited?
– What targets remain before the end of the first term?
– Who takes responsibility when those targets are missed?
That is what Performance Democracy should look like.
The Osun Lesson Must Travel
The political experience in Osun should not disappear into the footnotes of another election.
Citizens demonstrated that political establishments, financiers, celebrities, bookmakers and party machinery do not always have the final word.
The people do.
The significance of that lesson goes beyond the identity of any winner or loser.
It demonstrated that citizens possess political power when they organise and exercise it collectively.
That power should now be organised nationally — not as APC, PDP, Labour or any other party; not as an ethnic, religious or anti-Tinubu movement, but as a citizens’ movement demanding measurable democratic performance.
Citizens Need Their Own Performance Structure
If political parties can establish campaign councils, citizens should establish Citizens’ Performance Councils around every election.
Political parties may appoint directors-general.
Citizens must appoint themselves directors-general of their own democratic destiny.
Every presidential candidate should be asked the same fundamental questions:
What are your five most important national priorities?
What measurable results will you deliver within 100 days, one year and the first term?
How will you finance those commitments?
What is the implementation timetable?
What data will citizens use to measure your performance?
Who will independently verify your claims?
What happens when targets are missed?
How frequently will citizens receive public performance reports?
These questions can move Nigeria from Campaign Democracy toward Performance Democracy.
End the Scorecard Deficit
Nigeria has a profound democratic imbalance.
Politicians are expected to take elections extremely seriously. They are not subjected to the same level of seriousness when it comes to measuring their performance in office.
Campaigns are closely monitored.
Governments often are not.
Political speeches are recorded.
Government outcomes are frequently not.
Campaign spending attracts public attention.
The return on public expenditure often receives far less scrutiny.
That imbalance must end.
Citizens should be asking concrete questions:
How many kilometres of roads were promised, and how many were delivered?
How many sustainable jobs were created?
What happened to electricity generation and distribution?
What measurable improvements occurred in education and healthcare?
What has happened to food prices?
What has happened to the value of the naira?
What progress has been made against insecurity?
What has happened to national productivity?
These are not opposition questions.
They are citizenship questions.
The Cost of Campaign Democracy
Campaign Democracy is expensive.
It demands huge spending on mobilisation, rallies, advertising, logistics, political structures, social media influence and, at times, inducements.
Political competition can consequently become a contest of financial war chests rather than competing visions of national development.
Citizens are reduced to consumers of political entertainment.
Promises are made.
Crowds cheer.
Songs play.
Money circulates.
Votes are collected.
Politicians return to office.
Citizens return to hardship.
Performance Democracy must break this cycle.
The fundamental question must no longer be:
Who can win?
It must become:
Who can perform — and how will we know?
A Challenge to the APC Campaign Council
There is nothing anti-democratic about demanding that the APC prove its case.
If the party believes its record is strong, it should welcome a performance-based election.
The experienced political actors now assembled should be deployed not merely to sell the president but to subject the administration’s record to measurement.
Publish the achievements.
Let citizens interrogate them.
Let independent experts verify them.
Let competing parties present alternatives.
Let citizens compare the evidence.
Then let the ballot decide.
That would represent a genuine shift from personality politics toward Performance Democracy.
The Real Opposition Is Unaccountable Government
The greatest opposition Nigerians should organise in 2027 may not necessarily be against a particular political party.
It should be against unaccountable government.
A government that performs should be supported.
A government that fails should be challenged.
And that standard should apply regardless of party affiliation.
That is citizenship.
That is how democracy matures.
Keep Religion and Identity in Their Place
Attempts will inevitably be made in 2027 to centre political debates around religion, ethnicity, region and personality.
Citizens must resist the trap.
Whether a ticket is Muslim-Muslim, Muslim-Christian, Christian-Christian or any other combination, the fundamental question remains the same:
What has been delivered, and what will be delivered?
Identity may tell citizens who a politician is.
It does not tell them what government will accomplish.
Religion may describe belief.
It does not build roads, generate electricity, create jobs, reduce inflation or secure communities.
Government does.
Government must therefore be measured by results.
From Osun to the Nation
The citizens’ experience in Osun should become a national democratic laboratory.
Every constituency should begin developing citizen scorecards.
Promises should be documented.
Civil society organisations should collect data.
Universities should analyse government performance.
Professional bodies should independently verify claims.
Journalists should follow the money.
Technology should be deployed to track projects.
Citizens should be taught responsible democratic participation rather than blind partisan loyalty.
Candidates should be encouraged — and where possible required — to sign measurable performance covenants.
Most importantly, accountability must continue after election day.
The election must end. The accountability must not.
The 2027 Question
The APC has established its campaign council.
Other political parties will establish theirs.
Money will flow.
Alliances will shift.
Slogans will multiply.
Social media campaigns will intensify.
Celebrities will endorse candidates.
Religious and ethnic narratives will compete.
Political consultants will craft messages designed to win votes.
But beneath all of it, Nigerians must not abandon one fundamental question:
Who will perform?
Not who draws the largest crowd.
Not who has the richest sponsors.
Not who commands the loudest online army.
Not who possesses the strongest ethnic machinery.
Not who has the most powerful godfather.
Not who distributes the most money.
Not who delivers the most polished speech.
Who will perform?
That should be the defining question of 2027.
A Message to the Campaign Council
To Senator Abdul’aziz Yari and members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council:
Nigeria does not need another campaign that merely asks citizens to believe.
It needs a campaign prepared to prove.
Do not simply assert that the administration has performed. Provide the data.
Do not simply claim economic recovery. Show the indicators.
Do not simply declare that reforms are working. Show who is benefiting.
Do not simply request trust. Give citizens the instruments with which to verify your claims.
If the APC believes its performance merits another mandate, let the 2027 election become Nigeria’s first truly national referendum on measurable governmental performance.
That would be larger than any political party.
Larger than any president.
Larger than the opposition.
And larger than a single election cycle.
It could mark the beginning of a new democratic culture.
The Citizens’ Duty
Citizens must also accept responsibility.
Performance Democracy cannot be demanded by spectators.
Citizens must organise, document, measure, compare, question and verify.
They must reject inducements.
They must refuse to allow religion to blind assessment or ethnicity to excuse failure.
They must stop asking only:
“Who are you supporting?”
And begin asking:
“What are you measuring?”
That is the political revolution Nigeria requires.
The APC has announced its campaign council.
Citizens must now build theirs — not as a rival political party, but as a permanent accountability institution of the Nigerian people.
Political parties may campaign until election day.
Citizens must continue measuring until the last day of the government they elect.
That is the necessary transition:
From Campaign Democracy to Performance Democracy.
The journey that began in Osun must not end there.
It must become Nigeria’s democratic inheritance.
