That presidential campaigns for the January 16, 2027, election are off to a sluggish start is largely due to unfinished political business within the contending parties. The problem is more pronounced in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), where post-primary intrigues have stalled the campaign structure, leaving President Bola Tinubu as chairman but the key position of Director-General unsettled, LEO SOBECHI reports.

Prominent among the reasons for the slow start to electioneering are the prolonged search for campaign arrowheads, lingering post-primary grievances and pre-election litigations.

Conscious of the situation in the ruling party, President Tinubu assumed the chairmanship of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, leaving Senators AbdulAziz Yari and Hope Uzodimma, who had been eyeing the Director-General’s position, to emerge as DG and Secretary, respectively.

The Director-General of a presidential campaign organisation is central to its success. The office coordinates the campaign structure, projects the party’s strength and readiness, and signals its seriousness about winning and governing.

Unlike in previous election cycles, when the appointment of a campaign DG usually followed shortly after the emergence of a flagbearer, the APC is struggling to settle on the political arrowhead for Tinubu’s re-election bid, despite being the incumbent party.

Although the recent Osun State gubernatorial election dominated national attention, the failure of major parties to fully constitute their presidential campaign structures has further slowed electioneering. While some blame the opposition’s fragmentation, others believe the APC’s loss in Osun dampened its enthusiasm for the 2027 presidential battle.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) records show that at least 19 of Nigeria’s about 22 registered political parties fielded candidates for the January 16, 2027, presidential election.

In an explanatory note accompanying the publication of the particulars and credentials of the 19 candidates, INEC said the exercise was guided by constitutional provisions requiring voters to scrutinise the credentials of presidential candidates and their running mates.

Under the Electoral Act 2026, the public display of Form EC9 is mandatory under Section 29(3), allowing voters to examine the information supplied by candidates and raise objections where necessary.

Notable candidates and running mates seeking to displace President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC include Atik u Abubakar/Chibuike Amaechi (ADC); Peter Obi/Rabiu Kwankwaso (NDC); Seyi Makinde/Ibrahim Adamu Bala (APM); Adebayo Adewole Ebenezer/Bugaje Usman Mohammed (SDP); Donald Duke/Buba Musa (PRP); Sandy Onor/Umaru Babangida (PDP); and Omoyele Sowore/Magashi Haruna Garba (AAC).

Of these challengers, only a few appear to enjoy significant name and face recognition among prospective voters. In terms of serious preparation and readiness to go the distance, the list is even shorter.

Given the transactional politics that have defined Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, it is possible that some of the parties are placeholders created by political jobbers as Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), ready to endorse or step aside for a willing buyer for the right consideration.

As the 150-day campaign period progresses, APM has already used the substitution window to replace its presidential running mate. It remains to be seen whether the proposed single presidential candidate being promoted by the G-100 will materialise before the substitution deadline.

Although the coalition believes that a single presidential candidate could pose a serious challenge to Tinubu and the APC, the arrangement remains doubtful, given the political, financial, and strategic investments made by the contenders before securing their parties’ tickets.

The prevailing sentiment is that the G-100 leadership is divided between those seeking to stop Tinubu and those backing either Atiku Abubakar or Peter Obi. However, reminiscent of the 2010 Adamu Ciroma-led Consensus Committee, indications suggest that the G-100’s attempt to reduce the number of opposition candidates could favour Atiku.

Intriguingly, both Atiku and Obi have given the impression that the 2027 presidential contest could be their last shot at the Presidency. Against this background, there is also said to be a minority within the G-100 inclined towards a second term for Tinubu. As the Americans say, all cards remain on the table.

The PRP presidential candidate, Duke, expressed doubts about the feasibility of a single challenger against Tinubu, warning that ego clashes among the leading contenders could defeat the plan and hand the President an easy victory on January 16, 2027.

But even before the substitution window closes, there is little to distinguish serious contenders from less consequential participants. Virtually all the parties are grappling with internal contradictions and disputes.

In the ruling party, unfinished reconciliation efforts, grievances over the APC National Assembly primaries, and the unresolved search for the arrowhead of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign have slowed preparations. Time is already ticking, with no indication that INEC will shift the Presidential and National Assembly election from January 16, 2027.

Apologies
PERHAPS, noticing the level of languor among party faithful after the nomination process, APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, decided to take responsibility and appeal for reprieve.

He must also have realised how those seeking to undermine the party’s organisational strength allegedly conspired to remove its former Deputy National Organising Secretary, Nze Chidi Duru, despite President Tinubu’s directive.

Speaking in Ibadan, Oyo State, last Thursday while inaugurating the party’s campaign office, Yilwatda appealed to members aggrieved by the primaries to sheathe their swords and unite for victory next year.

He stated: “I know how deeply hurt, excluded or disadvantaged some of you felt during the primary. The NWC accepts full responsibility for any mistakes by committees it set up to conduct the primaries.

“Any wrongdoing by a committee constituted by the national leadership amounted to a mistake by the party itself. If anybody is hurt, if anybody is injured, if anybody is prevented or excluded in any form or other, we take responsibility. On TV, before Nigerians, we take responsibility for all that has happened. I appeal to everybody that we are sorry.”

Although the national chairman attributed the grievances to the NWC’s institutional responsibility, Oyo State party faithful held him responsible for the confusion, particularly the delay in conducting the gubernatorial primary that produced Senator Sharafadeen Alli at the expense of former Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu.

A party chieftain who witnessed the primaries said Yilwatda, as national chairman, had the opportunity to correct the irregularities but chose to remain aloof.

“Nobody should mind him because he was part of the problem,” he stated.

Even so, the former Humanitarian Affairs Minister urged APC members across the wards, local government areas and senatorial districts to regard the disagreements arising from the primaries as an internal family affair that could be resolved through dialogue and reconciliation.

Wrangling, sulking persist
BUT despite the national chairman’s apology and plea for reconciliation, resentment persists as the party struggles to unite for the 2027 battle.

For instance, shortly after INEC uploaded the list of candidates nominated by the party for the January 16 National Assembly election, former Imo State governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha, dragged the APC and the electoral commission to court.

Okorocha, who represented the same Imo West Senatorial District as incumbent Governor Hope Uzodimma in the Ninth Senate, asked the Federal High Court to direct the APC and INEC to recognise him as the party’s duly nominated senatorial candidate.

The Guardian gathered that ahead of the APC primary, some Presidency insiders attempted to broker a rapprochement between Uzodimma, Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), and his predecessor, Okorocha, over the Imo West ticket.

But rejecting efforts to stop him from participating in the Senate primary on constitutional grounds, Uzodimma purchased the APC nomination forms, positioning himself for the chairmanship of the 11th National Assembly. Like Senators AbdulAziz Yari, Tanko Al-Makura, and Adams Oshiomhole, he also sought the position of Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation.

Yet Okorocha, an equally ranking Senator and a pioneer of the 2013 opposition merger into the APC, argued that Uzodimma, as a sitting governor, is barred by Section 183 of the Constitution from holding another elective office without first relinquishing the governorship.

Uzodimma’s tenure as governor expires on January 14, 2028, while the next National Assembly is expected to be inaugurated on June 9, 2027.

With the Presidency’s alternative dispute-resolution mechanism having failed, Okorocha, convinced that Uzodimma could not simultaneously remain governor and serve in the National Assembly, sought judicial intervention.

Relying on his political networks, particularly support from North-East allies who, according to sources, told him that the next political battle after the January 16 presidential election would be fought on the floor of the National Assembly, Uzodimma remained determined to pursue the Senate bid.

But in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1854/2026, filed on August 13 by his lawyer, O.J. Aboje, Okorocha listed INEC, Uzodimma and the APC as defendants, challenging INEC’s publication of Uzodimma’s name as the APC candidate for Imo West Senatorial District.

Although Williams Kayode, Chairman of the 2026 Imo APC National Assembly Primary Election Committee, declared Uzodimma the winner with 230,464 votes, Okorocha is asking the court to determine, among other issues, whether INEC is bound by reports submitted by its officials who monitored the May 18 primary and whether Uzodimma is eligible to contest while still serving as governor.

Contrary to the 230,464 votes credited to Uzodimma by the Kayode-led committee, Okorocha, in an affidavit sworn by his son, Amen, claimed he defeated Uzodimma by 150,780 votes to 102,158 during the May 18 direct primary.

Consequently, the former governor asked the Federal High Court to order INEC to recognise and publish his name as the authentic APC candidate for Imo West.

But underlying the legal battle is high-stakes presidential politics dating back to the 2022 presidential primary, when Uzodimma supported President Muhammadu Buhari’s attempt to impose Senator Ahmad Lawan as the APC’s 2023 presidential flagbearer.

While many APC faithful believe Tinubu, who was disturbed by the alleged conspiracy to deny him the ticket, has forgiven Uzodimma, others claim the President remains unhappy over the treatment meted out to Okorocha, a foundation APC leader, by the Buharists.

Beyond the legal dispute over Imo West, the struggle over who secures more loyalists in the 11th National Assembly is also part of the subterranean politics that is frustrating the effective take-off of the APC Presidential Campaign.

Could it be that Uzodimma’s North-East backers want him in the Senate to protect their political interests, including averting any possible impeachment? Or is President Tinubu, as a forward-thinking political strategist, allowing the system to repay the 2022 conspiracy by rewarding Okorocha’s 2013 gamble? Only time will tell.