The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has stepped up preparations for the 2027 presidential election, appointing five governors and former Borno State governor, Ali Modu-Sheriff, as zonal campaign coordinators for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election. SEYE OLUMIDE examines the structure’s objectives and prospects for delivering second-term votes.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has entered a new phase of preparations for the 2027 presidential election by appointing zonal campaign coordinators for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid.

The party appointed Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, as coordinator for the North-West; Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for the South-West; Niger State Governor, Umar Bago, for the North-Central; Cross River State Governor, Bassey Otu, for the South-South; Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, for the South-East; and former Borno State governor, Ali Modu-Sheriff, for the North-East.

The appointments give the APC a clearer command structure through which the presidential campaign can coordinate governors, party organisations, political networks and grassroots mobilisation across the country.

But beyond the political arithmetic, a more important question arises: what do these appointments mean to ordinary Nigerians?
Will they change the economic realities confronting households? Will they bring down food prices, create jobs, improve purchasing power, address insecurity or improve living standards?

The immediate answer is no! The appointments are political, not economic. Their significance lies in what the coordinators are expected to do with the political machinery placed at their disposal: persuade voters to support Tinubu, defend the administration’s record and convince Nigerians that its policies are producing, or will eventually produce, better conditions.

That makes the appointments less a solution to Nigeria’s problems than a test of whether political organisations can overcome voter anxiety about those problems.

The 2023 electoral baseline
THE 2023 presidential election provides the starting point for understanding the assignments.
Tinubu won nationally with 8,794,726 votes, ahead of Atiku Abubakar, who polled 6,984,520, and Peter Obi, who scored 6,101,533.

Regionally, however, the election produced different patterns. Tinubu won the North-West by about 323,000 votes over Atiku and secured a strong advantage in the South-West, where he won more than half of the valid votes.

The North-Central was more competitive, with Tinubu ahead of Obi and Atiku, while Atiku dominated the North-East. Obi won the South-South and recorded an overwhelming victory in the South-East.

Those results explain why the six appointments represent different electoral assignments. Some coordinators must defend existing advantages; others must recover lost ground.

For Uba Sani in the North-West, the task is primarily to protect Tinubu’s 2023 advantage. The zone has one of the largest voting populations in the country and could be decisive in 2027.

But the APC cannot assume that organisational strength will automatically translate into votes. Economic hardship, food prices, insecurity, unemployment and household purchasing power will form part of the political conversation.

The same applies to Modu-Sheriff in the North-East, where Atiku defeated Tinubu decisively in 2023. Sheriff has extensive political experience in the region and will be expected to improve the APC’s performance.

Yet the challenge is not simply persuading political leaders to support the President, but convincing voters dealing with insecurity, poverty and economic difficulties that the government is moving the country in the right direction.

The North-Central presents an equally fluid contest. Tinubu won the zone in 2023, but Obi was relatively close behind. For Bago, the challenge will be to hold the APC’s position while confronting insecurity, agricultural disruption, unemployment and the cost of living.

In all three northern zones, therefore, the political machine will be competing against something that cannot easily be controlled from party headquarters: the daily experience of voters.

South: From dominance to persuasion
THE South-West remains Tinubu’s strongest electoral base. He won the zone convincingly in 2023, giving the APC a substantial starting advantage. That advantage, however, should not be confused with permanent loyalty.

The recent Osun governorship election provided a reminder that voters can punish a ruling party even in a region where it has traditionally been strong. While a governorship election is different from a presidential contest, the result carries a broader message: party structures alone do not guarantee electoral support.

Sanwo-Olu’s assignment will therefore go beyond mobilising APC members. He must help maintain the party’s traditional advantage while persuading voters who may be unhappy with the Federal Government’s economic policies.

In the South-South, Otu has the opposite challenge. Obi won the zone in 2023, while Tinubu finished behind him. The APC has since expanded its political presence through defections and alliances. But whether prominent political figures joining the ruling party will produce corresponding votes remains uncertain.

The South-East presents an even bigger challenge. Obi’s 2023 victory there was overwhelming, leaving Tinubu with only a small share of the vote. Mbah’s appointment is therefore significant because it places a serving governor who moved from the PDP to the APC at the centre of the President’s effort to expand his support in the region.

But the critical question is whether elite political realignment will be followed by voter realignment. With Obi still expected to be a major contender, the APC may define success in the South-East not necessarily as winning the zone but as substantially improving Tinubu’s 2023 performance.

What is in it for the voter?
FOR a trader struggling with rising operating costs, a civil servant whose salary buys less than before, a young person seeking employment, a farmer dealing with insecurity or a family struggling with food and transport costs, the identity of a zonal campaign coordinator may have little immediate meaning.

The coordinator cannot, by virtue of the appointment, reduce food prices or increase household income. What the coordinator can do is join the political debate over whether the Tinubu administration’s policies should be given more time.

The administration has defended its economic reforms, including the removal of petrol subsidies and exchange-rate reforms, as necessary measures to correct structural weaknesses and put the economy on a more sustainable footing.

But the immediate consequences have been painful for many Nigerians, with higher living costs and pressure on household purchasing power.

Defending the appointments, APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, said the selection of the six regional coordinators underscored the party’s seriousness about the 2027 elections and its decision to deploy tested hands across the geopolitical zones.

Yilwatda, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Information Strategy, Abimbola Tooki, also dismissed concerns over the APC’s recent defeat in Osun State, describing the outcome as a “win-win situation” for the APC and Governor Ademola Adeleke, who, he said, had pledged to support Tinubu’s re-election.

Appealing to Nigerians to give the administration more time, Yilwatda argued that reforms of the scale undertaken by Tinubu could not be expected to produce immediate results.

“Give us more chances and opportunities to reshape Nigeria,” he said.

There is also a financial dimension to the appointments. A presidential campaign covering six geopolitical zones requires considerable resources for transportation, rallies, advertising, communication and mobilisation.

While it may be speculative to conclude that the zonal appointments were designed specifically to control or distribute campaign funds, they raise legitimate questions about how resources for the 2027 campaign will be mobilised and deployed across the zones.

Nigerians will want to know how campaign funds are raised and spent, whether expenditures are properly accounted for, and whether campaign-finance rules are effectively enforced.

The National Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Dr Olu Agunloye, warned the APC against using its elaborate campaign structure to intimidate opposition parties or undermine the electoral process.

Agunloye said the composition of the council was the APC’s internal affair, but cautioned against any attempt to use it to raise slush funds, manipulate security agencies or pressure the electoral commission in favour of the ruling party.

He said such practices had been witnessed in previous elections, including the recent Osun governorship poll, and urged the APC to avoid a repeat in 2027.

“We would not want these shenanigans repeated in the 2027 elections,” he said.

The Global Coordinator of the Obidient Movement, Dr Tanko Yunusa, also urged Nigerians to scrutinise the APC’s list of campaign coordinators, alleging that some of those appointed had questions to answer over their past activities.

Yunusa, who speaks for the presidential candidate of the New Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, said the appointments reflected what he described as the APC’s desperation to secure Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.

He, however, urged Nigerians to draw lessons from the August 15 Osun governorship election by turning out to vote and defending their votes to ensure that the outcome of the 2027 election reflects their will.

Ultimately, the six appointments tell Nigerians more about how the APC intends to fight the 2027 election than about what the election will produce for them.

Uba Sani must defend the North-West. Modu-Sheriff must close the North-East gap. Bago must hold the North-Central. Sanwo-Olu must protect the South-West advantage. Otu must reduce Obi’s lead in the South-South, while Mbah faces the difficult task of expanding Tinubu’s support in the South-East.

But behind all six assignments lies one common challenge: persuasion. The APC must persuade Nigerians that the President’s economic policies are working or will work. It must persuade voters angry about the cost of living that their hardship should not translate into rejection of the government. It must convince those worried about insecurity that the situation is improving and citizens expecting faster economic relief that another four years will produce better results.

Meanwhile, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described the APC’s campaign council as a “rehabilitation centre” for persons facing unresolved corruption allegations.

National Publicity Secretary of ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party questioned the inclusion of former Humanitarian Affairs Minister Betta Edu and former NSITF Chairman Ngozi Olejeme, asking whether their outstanding cases had been resolved or their appointments amounted to a political pardon.

He said the 2027 election would be a referendum on Tinubu’s performance, arguing that the President’s campaign structure could not “sweep away” Nigerians’ hardships, the rising cost of living, and poverty.

The party also renewed its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar’s proposal for a targeted, capped and independently audited fuel subsidy, saying it would help reduce pump prices and the broader cost of living.

Abdullahi said every naira spent on such intervention must be traceable, and every barrel accounted for, accusing the APC administration of waste and economic mismanagement.