2027: Tinubu, Shettima Lead APC Chieftains To Kaduna For Campaign

President Bola Tinubu will lead All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders to Kaduna today (Saturday) for the party’s first presidential campaign rally ahead of the January 16, 2027, election.

Naija News reports that the President will be joined by Vice-President, Kashim Shettima; the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Abdul’aziz Yari; and the party’s National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda.

The rally, which formally kicks off Tinubu’s re-election campaign, is expected to draw APC governors, members of the party’s National Working Committee, National Executive Committee and National Caucus.

Leaders of the National Assembly, former governors, state chairmen, and other party chieftains are also expected to attend.

The event is the APC’s first major presidential campaign outing since electioneering officially began on August 19.

It also sets the tone for a keenly contested race in which the ruling party will face stiff opposition from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

Kaduna is strategic to the APC’s plans, having voted for Atiku Abubakar, then the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, ahead of Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.

The state is shaping up again as a major battleground in 2027, with Atiku now the ADC presidential candidate and former governor of the state, Nasir El-Rufai, serving as Deputy Chairman of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council.

According to the APC’s proposed campaign timetable, the tour will cover all 36 states, starting in Kaduna and ending with a mega rally in Lagos on January 9, 2027, a week before the election.

Tinubu is expected to personally attend rallies in 12 states: Kaduna, Rivers, Plateau, Oyo, Borno, Enugu, Bauchi, Sokoto, Delta, Kano, Adamawa, and Lagos.