By Sabiu Abdullahi
President Bola Tinubu is scheduled to launch his campaign for re-election in the 2027 general elections in Kaduna on October 24, according to Senator Abdulaziz Yari, Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council.
Yari announced the date on Friday after briefing Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on preparations for the campaign.
He said the President had requested an update on the council’s readiness and discussions on the proposed schedule of campaign visits across the country.
Yari said the campaign council’s inaugural meeting would hold on October 14 at the State House Banquet Hall, ahead of the Kaduna rally.
He announced, “By God’s grace, his team, I, and Mr President himself, we have agreed on how it’s going to be done.
“We have put forward a proposal. The inaugural meeting [of the campaign council] is going to be done on the 14th of this month. That’s next Wednesday at the State House banquet hall, and by God’s grace, on the 24th of October, we’re going to do our flag-off campaign in Kaduna, inshallah.
“Then we outlined our state visits to each and every place where we will go, and the President has approved them. So we are going to hit the ground running by the 24th of October, inshallah.”
According to Yari, Port Harcourt in Rivers State and Maiduguri in Borno State will be among the campaign’s next destinations after Kaduna.
He said the full itinerary would be made public following the council’s inauguration.
“We have the timetable, and we are going to make it available after the inauguration. But this has all been understood and approved by the team of Mr President and I,” he said.
Defending Tinubu’s prospects against opposition challengers, Yari argued that the President’s political influence and past support for other politicians would work in his favour.
“We are talking of the President of the country, and this President, who, by God’s grace, Almighty God used him to support Atiku some time back, and at the same time to support Peter Obi.
“So if Allah uses me to support you, there is no way Allah will use you to bring me down,” he said.
Yari also maintained that a presidential candidate needed substantial support in both northern and southern Nigeria to win the election.
He questioned whether opposition candidates had enough political control across the two regions to defeat the incumbent.
“Can the ADC candidate today in the southern part of the country beat his chest and say he has control of one state in the South? And I don’t think Peter Obi, who used to be my colleague, can beat his chest. Can he say he has control of one state in northern Nigeria?
“So this calculation shows us that even if you have control of 80 per cent of the South, if you don’t have anything in the North, you cannot make it.
“If you have 80 per cent of control of the North, if you don’t have any state in the South, you can’t make it, and that’s what it is.”
Citing former President Muhammadu Buhari’s previous election campaigns, Yari argued that Tinubu had a broader geographical base of support.
He claimed that Buhari had enjoyed significant backing in the North but struggled to secure sufficient support in the South, while Tinubu had support across both regions.
“This is calculation, it is not rocket science,” he affirmed.
Yari also defended the administration’s economic record, arguing that the government had made progress since taking office.
He said Tinubu “has turned around the situation that he met on ground, and the economy is moving.
“So I think we have done enough that we can tell our opponents about what we did. We are not promising. We are doing it, and we are going to continue.”
Tinubu appointed Yari to lead the APC Presidential Campaign Council on August 22, 2026, with Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma serving as secretary. Tinubu chairs the council, while Vice President Kashim Shettima and APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda serve as vice chairmen.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has scheduled the presidential and National Assembly elections for January 16, 2027. According to the timetable cited in the report, campaigns are permitted from August 19, 2026, until January 15, 2027.
The presidential contest is expected to feature candidates from several political parties, including Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress, whose running mate is former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress.
