President Bola Tinubu will formally launch his 2027 re-election campaign in Kaduna on October 24, the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, has announced.
Yari disclosed the date on Friday after briefing the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on preparations for the campaign and the proposed schedule of state visits.
He said the campaign council would hold its inaugural meeting on October 14 at the State House Banquet Hall, ahead of the Kaduna rally.
“By God’s grace, on the 24th of October, we’re going to do our flag-off campaign in Kaduna,” Yari told State House correspondents.
According to the campaign director-general, the President had approved the proposed timetable and the council was preparing to begin its activities.
Yari said the campaign would move to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, after the Kaduna event, before proceeding to Maiduguri, Borno State.
He added that the complete schedule of state visits would be made public after the campaign council’s inauguration.
Yari speaks on opposition candidates
The APC campaign chief also expressed confidence in Tinubu’s re-election prospects, arguing that presidential candidates need substantial political support across both northern and southern Nigeria to win the election.
Yari questioned whether opposition figures, including former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, had sufficient political structures across the country.
Atiku is contesting under the African Democratic Congress, while Obi is the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress.
Yari argued that support concentrated in one region would not be enough to secure victory nationally.
He cited former President Muhammadu Buhari’s previous presidential campaigns and compared them with what he described as Tinubu’s support across both regions.
The former Zamfara State governor also defended the Tinubu administration’s record, saying it had made progress on the economic challenges facing the country.
“We are not promising. We are doing it, and we are going to continue,” he said.
Yari’s remarks indicate that the administration’s record and its claimed economic progress are expected to feature prominently in the APC’s re-election campaign.
INEC fixes January 16 election
The Independent National Electoral Commission has scheduled the presidential and National Assembly elections for January 16, 2027.
INEC’s timetable provides for the official campaign period to run from August 19, 2026, to January 15, 2027.
The October 24 Kaduna rally is therefore the APC’s planned formal campaign flag-off, rather than the start of the official campaign period.
The coming months are expected to see increased political activity as parties mobilise supporters and present their records and proposals to voters.
Yari said the APC campaign council would release further details of its nationwide programme after its inaugural meeting on October 14.
