Ahead of the 2027 general elections, top APC stakeholders, including the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, have advocated the president’s re-election.
Although neither the party nor the president has formally flagged off campaigns, recently, Ganduje, while in audience with APC support groups at the party’s headquarters in Abuja, called on politicians from the North indicating interest in the 2027 presidency to shelve their ambitions until 2031 when Tinubu would have completed his second term.
In the same vain, former Benue state governor and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, while speaking on a TVC programme, had also urged former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the last general elections, Atiku Abubakar and other northerners not to seek the exalted seat in 2027.
Meanwhile, campaigns for the president’s re-election were also observed to have commenced in Kaduna, Kebbi and Kwara states; while re-election billboards of the president have also been sighted at different locations in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). A development that has generated reactions from opposition parties and political analysts who alleged that it is a violation of the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Legal framework for campaigns
Section 94 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) states: “For the purpose of this Act, the period of campaigning in public by every political party shall commence 150 days before polling day and end 24 hours prior to that day.”
Subsection 2 adds: “A registered political party which, through any person acting on its behalf during the 24 hours before polling day—(a) advertises on the facilities of any broadcasting undertaking; or (b) procures for publication or acquiesces in the publication of an advertisement in a newspaper for the purpose of promoting or opposing a particular candidate—commits an offence under this Act and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N500,000.”
In another development, reactions have continued to trail Nasir El-rufai’s visits to the former interior minister Rauf Aregbesola, and founder of the Citadel Global Community Church, Tunde Bakare, in Lagos, as well as the visit to former vice president and standard-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, in Adamawa have stirred reactions.
Atiku wrote on his X handle; “After tonight’s Itfar (breaking of fast), I received in audience, former Governor of Kaduna State, @elrufai former Governor of Adamawa, Jibrilla Bindow and Musa Halilu, Dujima Adamawa. Our robust discussions were the dessert of the meal”.
El-Rufai, who served as governor on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has hinted at switching his political allegiance elsewhere ahead of the 2027 presidential poll.
Recall that the former Kaduna state governor previously met with members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to “strategize ahead of the 2027 elections”.
In January, the APC in Osun expelled Aregbesola over anti-party activities after the Omoluabi Progressives, Aregbesola’s political group, left the party.
Abubakar, a former vice-president and PDP chieftain, has spoken of building a coalition that would give the ruling APC a run for its money in the next presidential election.
See photos from el-Rufai’s visits below.
L-R: El-Rufai and Rauf Aregbesola
L-R: Musa Halilu, el-Rufai and Atiku Abubakar
L-R: Jibrilla Bindow, Musa Halilu, el-Rufai and Atiku Abubakar
L-R: El-Rufai and Tunde Bakare
