President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid got a big boost at the weekend with endorsements from across the country.
His achievement the need for consolidation national cohesion and other reasons were adduced for the show of solidarity.
The presidential election is billed for January 16 2027.
Apart from President Tinubu there are 17 other presidential candidates – the two leading opposition candidates are Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
From Anambra to Kano Ebonyi Uyo and faraway Saudi Arabia pledges of support rolled in at the weekend.
Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo who is also coordinator of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) in the state said the NDC and its candidate should forget about the 2027 Presidency because they cannot win. Obi hails from the state.
Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf said President Tinubu will show strength in the 2027 election because those of them in the opposition in 2023 have now joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) and will mobilise for his victory.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio said yesterday in Uyo the Akwa Ibom State capital that the state will give the President the highest votes in the country.
Works Minister David Umahi told a town hall meeting in Abakaliki the Ebonyi State capital that the Southeast should have no reason not to vote for President Tinubu. He dismissed Obi’s pledge to serve for four years if elected as a ruse.
Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin expressed confidence that with political permutations in his favour the President will sweep to victory.
Foremost businessman and industrialist Abdul Samad Rabiu who is on the trip to Saudi Arabia with the President pledged that the business community will reciprocate the effect of Tinubu’s bold reforms by supporting his continuation in office.
NDC should forget it says Soludo
Soludo noted that opposition cannot defeat President Tinubu with a divided house.
He spoke at the International Conference Center ICC in Awka the state capital as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Accord unite as a coalition to return Tinubu in 2027.
Though former Governor of the state and immediate former Minister of Labour and Employment Senator Chris Ngige was represented by his former aide CJ Nwosu.
Senator Uche Ekwunife vying for the senatorial seat of Anambra Central; a chieftain of APC in Southeast Chief Modestus Umenzekwe Chairman of APC in Anambra State; Senator Emma Anosike and other chieftains of the four political parties were in attendance.
Addressing the members of the political parties Soludo said their support for President Tinubu was total adding that Anambra must be rescued.
The governor said: ‘It is a coalition for progress coalition for unity coalition for good security and coalition to secure the future of Nigeria and Anambra.
We are not here for talks; we are here for the soul of Igbo and the future. It is a battle between emotion and reason. But reason will eventually triumph’
Soludo said some of the personalities in the state like Senator Chris Ngige and Sir Paul Chukwuma who is the Deputy Director-General of Tinubu Support Group (TSG) sent apologies for not being around among others.
‘Our purpose here is the re-election of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu but others contesting for other offices in different parties it will be a level playing field.
‘We will kick off our campaign on Friday; we have officially adopted President Tinubu as our candidate.
‘It was Rochas Okorocha that took APGA to the coalition. If you do a DNA APGA will rise up well. We gave birth to APC
We don’t want to play politics of isolation. Anambra is strategic to Nigeria politics a state of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe Dr Alex Ekwueme Prof Chinua Achebe Dr. Chuba Okadigbo among others; therefore we cannot come now to play sole politics.
‘Anambra cannot pull out from the centre not now that we have a President that knows what federalism is all about.
He insisted there must be a level playing field as a true Democrat when I was contesting for governorship and that is why APGA is still here.
‘Igbo ad clamoured for President; we want a united prosperous one Nigeria. Anambra has the worst erosion gully in Africa. If we don’t align with the center we cannot get federal support.
‘We need federal government partnership; if we fail there are consequences. We are not giving Tinubu a favour but we need such partnership.
‘Before now the Igbo did not vote for him and he won but is it now that he is up there that you will defeat him?
He inaugurated the over 4000 members of the four political parties for the onward journey for President Tinubu’s re-election.
For Senator Uche Ekwunife Senator Emma Anosike and former chairman of APC in Anambra State Chief Basil Ejidike Chief Modestus Umenzekwe and national chairman of APGA Chief Sly Ezeokenwa the meeting was well-deserved. The APC leaders hailed Soludo for the initiative assuring him of their commitment to the project.
Yusuf: we have forces
Reacting to the 500000 votes that President Tinubu got in Kano State in the 2023 election Governor Yusuf popularly known as Gida Gida said that having joined forces with the APC when he and his supporters defected from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) the coast is clear for President Tinubu to haul millions of votes in Kano the state with the second-highest number of registered voters.
Speaking at the weekend during the empowerment programme in Kano by a member of the House of Representatives Leke Abejide the governor said: ‘In 2023 we were in the opposition. Today by the grace of Allah the governor elected in 2023 is now a full member of the ruling party the APC with the President as leader. Today 24 out of 27 members of the State House of Assembly are in the APC. Nine out of 14 House of Representatives members are in APC. Two out of three Senators are in APC. All 44 Local Government chairmen all 484 councillors plus commissioners and advisers are all in APC working round the clock to ensure 100 percent success for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.’
Kano has more than six million registered voters.
Tinubu poised for victory says Barau
Senator Barau expressed confidence that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will win the election citing prevailing political developments and assessments by political analysts.
Barau spoke at the weekend during the inauguration of campaign committees for Dawakin Tofa Tofa and Rimin Gado Local Government Areas of Kano State where he urged APC members to unite and mobilise support for the party’s candidates in the forthcoming elections.
In a statement by his media aide Ismail Mudashir the senator said the political permutations ahead of the election favoured Tinubu expressing optimism that the President’s policies and programmes would yield greater dividends during a second term.
‘Based on the assessments of political analysts and the current state of Nigerian politics all indications suggest that by Allah’s grace Bola Ahmed Tinubu will win the presidential election’ he said.
Barau praised party leaders elected representatives Governor Kabir Yusuf and other stakeholders for their support expressing confidence that the unity within the Kano APC would be sustained.
He said Kano as one of the country’s largest states and second only to Lagos in registered voters deserved greater attention and development opportunities from the Federal Government.
The Deputy Senate President described Governor Yusuf’s defection from the NNPP to the APC as a strategic political decision that had strengthened Kano’s relevance at the national level and improved its prospects of attracting development projects.
Why Southeast must support other regions by Umahi
Umahi urged religious leaders the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and traditional rulers in the Southeast not to remain neutral in the political debate ahead of the election.
Umahi called on the religious and traditional institutions to guide their followers towards supporting President Tinubu’s re-election arguing that the Southeast must strategically support other regions to strengthen its chances of producing a future president.
The minister appealed to Igbo leaders to embrace political wisdom rather than sentiments.
He recalled CAN’s position during his struggle to become governor of Ebonyi State saying the Christian body had taken a stand on the need for justice and should not remain silent when important political decisions affecting the people were being made.
Umahi argued that it would be politically unrealistic for the Southeast to expect to produce Nigeria’s president for only four years after what he described as decades of exclusion from the nation’s highest political office.
‘There is no way an Igbo man after staying for 60 years will want to be president for four years. There is nobody that can accept that. The North has not accepted to be president for four years’ he said.
He urged Southeast people to support Tinubu to complete his remaining four-year tenure saying such support would demonstrate political reciprocity and strengthen the region’s bargaining position when it eventually seeks the presidency.
The minister maintained that the Southeast should not expect to achieve its political aspirations through hate speech insults or emotional appeals but through strategic alliances and engagement with other regions.
According to him the region has recorded significant political inclusion under the Tinubu administration citing appointments into strategic positions including the Chief of Air Staff Minister of Works Minister of Foreign Affairs and other ministerial and senior government positions.
He also pointed to improvements in the business environment and infrastructure particularly the rehabilitation of roads and easier movement of goods as evidence that the Southeast was increasingly being integrated into the national economic and political structure.
‘Today our people in commerce clear our goods with ease. Today our roads are being revived in the path of economic activities. Today we can boldly say we have been integrated’ he said.
Umahi further criticised what he described as growing intolerance among some supporters of Obi particularly on social media where people who disagree with his presidential ambition are allegedly labeled saboteurs.
He questioned the tendency to portray Obi as the only credible presidential aspirant from the Southeast arguing that the region had produced several accomplished political leaders capable of seeking the country’s highest office.
He specifically mentioned former Ebonyi State Governor Sam Egwu former Minister of National Planning Elias Mbam former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim and himself asking why other political figures should be dismissed in favour of one individual.
He appealed to traditional rulers religious leaders and other influential stakeholders to provide political direction for the people insisting that the Southeast should learn from the political strategies of the North and Southwest.
‘Traditional fathers do not stay on the fence. Religious leaders do not stay on the fence. Our people in the North do not our people in the Southwest do not. Guide our people’ Umahi said.
He maintained that his position was informed by the need to secure the long-term political interests of the Southeast. He added that he would continue to speak openly on the issue despite criticism from those who disagree with his support for President Tinubu.