APC Steps Up Grassroots Mobilisation Ahead of 2027 Elections

Ahead of the commencement of state-to-state presidential campaign activities, the All Progressives Congress (APC) was engaged in a flurry of activities at the weekend.

It started with the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, after which the party expressed its readiness for the full take-off of the campaigns, which it said would lead to nationwide victory for the party.

The meeting was presided over by National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda.

The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), which kicked off a few days ago with whistle-stop visits to four traditional rulers – the Sultan of Sokoto, the Oba of Lagos, the Oba of Benin and the Shehu of Borno – led to the palaces by Director-General Abdulaziz Yari, gave reasons yesterday why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu deserves a second term in office.

In Maiduguri, Governor Babagana Zulum defied a downpour to kick-start the 2027 campaign for President Tinubu and Borno State governorship candidate Mustapha Gubio.

In Kano, reputed to have the highest voter turnout in previous elections, Governor Abba Yusuf inaugurated 50 campaign vehicles donated by the President Tinubu Door-to-Door Movement, led by businessman Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo).

In Edo State, echoing Governor Monday Okpebholo’s remarks that no party can beat the APC in the state, the Director of Media of the state campaign council, John Mayaki, said there was no serious opposition.

With the President expected to return from his working vacation tomorrow, the stage is set for the full-blown presidential campaign tours across the states.

The PCC urged Nigerians to re-elect Tinubu in the January 16, 2027 election.

The campaign council said the administration’s economic reforms were unavoidable decisions necessary to save the country’s future.

To the APC-PCC, the 2027 poll would be a choice between maintaining economic stability and returning to an era of unviable subsidies, artificial exchange rates and reckless borrowing.

One of the PCC spokesmen, Mallam Alwan Hassan, said Tinubu’s re-election was critical for stability, sustainability and consolidating the progress achieved over the past three years.

Hassan said Nigerians would make a wise decision by voting for Tinubu, adding that no voter would choose the path of retrogression.

He said: “The choice before Nigerians is clear: we can continue along the path of reform, stability, investment and sustainable growth, or return to a system of waste, privileged access, uncontrolled subsidies and debt-funded consumption.”

He added: “Nigeria is making progress under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We will keep that momentum, complete the work, and move from recovery to shared prosperity.”

Highlighting what he described as the gains that would accrue to ordinary Nigerians from a second Tinubu term, Hassan listed household relief, expanded domestic food production, job creation and grassroots development as elements of the administration’s consolidation plan.

He said Tinubu had completed the “painful work” of resetting Nigeria’s macroeconomic foundation, adding that more direct dividends were underway for Nigerian families.

Hassan said: “Our sacrifices will soon produce relief. I can assure you that. And that is why the next phase of this administration will concentrate relentlessly on lowering the cost of living, expanding food production, creating jobs, improving electricity supply, and ensuring that the benefits of reform reach households.”

The spokesman said that if the President governed until 2031, Nigerians would enjoy the benefits of the macroeconomic sacrifices made during his first term.

He said the next phase would bring cost-of-living relief by stabilising consumer prices as inflationary pressures ease, following greater foreign exchange market transparency and reduced debt-funded money creation.

Hassan said federal backing for agrarian corridors would enhance food security by expanding food production, reducing market prices, and tackling logistical bottlenecks for farmers.

He also alluded to the expansion of employment opportunities driven by sustained capital inflows, following more than N3 trillion in fresh investments recorded in the telecommunications sector alone between 2025 and 2026.

On grassroots financial empowerment, Hassan said there would be continued direct resource allocation to local governments, in line with the Supreme Court judgment that freed local councils from state joint-account dependencies.

He said: “This is not the time to abandon the journey halfway. You do not dismantle a bridge because crossing it is difficult. You complete it so that millions can reach the other side.”

Hailing Tinubu for what he described as courage, the spokesman said the administration chose long-term economic survival over short-term political popularity.

He said: “Upon assuming office, President Tinubu took two immediate, decisive policy steps that reshaped the national economy: ending the decades-long, unsustainable fuel subsidy regime and unifying the fragmented foreign-exchange market.

“Every serious economist understood that Nigeria was heading towards a fiscal crisis. Fuel subsidies had become unsustainable. We were borrowing to subsidise consumption. We were sitting on a time bomb. And President Tinubu chose to defuse it rather than leave it for our children.”

Hassan said the moves eliminated arbitrary arbitrage that previously enriched a privileged few while depriving critical public sectors such as health, education and security of funding.

To support its case for re-election, the APC campaign cited infrastructural, educational and security projects executed across the six geopolitical zones.

They included what the campaign described as a tripling of monthly disbursements from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) to the federal, state and local governments compared with pre-2023 levels, which it said enabled governors and council chairmen to fund local roads, healthcare and civil service salaries.

Hassan also cited the establishment and rollout of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), which provides interest-free tuition coverage and monthly living stipends to tertiary students.

He said: “Every parent who no longer has to borrow money or sell family property to pay school fees understands the value of NELFUND…

“It is a declaration by President Tinubu that no capable Nigerian child should be denied an education simply because his family does not have the resources.”