The 2027 presidential campaign season is already exposing alliances and calculations shaping President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid, with familiar political heavyweights missing from the main campaign council, new allies securing strategic positions and the inclusion of some controversial figures stirring fresh debate.
From the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 general election unveiled at the weekend, it could be observed that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and former Governor of Benue State, George Akume; Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, and several other cabinet members serving under President Bola Tinubu are conspicuously absent from the list.
President Tinubu had on Saturday unveiled the APC Presidential Campaign Council ahead of the January 16, 2027 presidential election.
Former Zamfara State Governor, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, is the Director-General of the council, while Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, is the Secretary.
According to a statement by the President’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu will chair the council, while Vice President Kashim Shettima will serve as First Vice Chairman. APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, is the Second Vice Chairman.
While some ministers and other senior government officials have been assigned key roles in the campaign council, several others are not members of the main council.
However, all serving ministers are members of the state campaign councils for the presidential election.
Those without prominent roles in the main council include the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele; Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Professor Joseph Utsev; Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Geidam; Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Mairiga Mahmud; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Ojukwu; Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Dr Bernard Doro; and Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Ahmad, among others.
Also absent from the list is the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, although his Senate counterpart, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, is a member of the council.
Why Akume, Keyamo Are Missing
Akume’s absence is notable because he served as Vice Chairman, North, of the APC Presidential Campaign Council during the 2019 presidential election.
However, his exclusion from the 2027 campaign structure is believed to be consistent with the precedent of keeping certain top government officials focused on governance rather than partisan electioneering.
Ahead of the 2023 general election, then-President Muhammadu Buhari directed that the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, and the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, be excluded from the APC Presidential Campaign Council.
Keyamo, who was then the council’s official spokesperson, explained the decision.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Muhammadu Buhari is the chairman of the Campaign Council. As a result, Mr President has specifically directed that the Vice President and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, should be left out of the Campaign Council to concentrate on the governance of the country and administration of government,” he said.
Keyamo added that, as a responsible party and government, it would be impractical for all key government functionaries to abandon their official responsibilities for electioneering.
Interestingly, Keyamo, who served as spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council in both the 2019 and 2023 elections, has not been assigned a major role in the 2027 campaign council.
His omission is said to be linked to political developments in his home state, Delta, which is now controlled by the APC.
Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, who defected to the APC, has been assigned the role of Director of Finance/Treasurer in the campaign council.
Delta was controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2019 and 2023 elections. With Oborevwori now in the APC and occupying a strategic position in the campaign structure, the political space available to Keyamo in the state is believed to have narrowed.
Media Team Takes Centre Stage
The campaign council’s media structure, however, features several members of the administration with strong media and communications backgrounds.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi, will serve as Coordinating Director for Media and Strategic Communication.
He will work with Dele Alake, Bayo Onanuga, Lanre Issa-Onilu, Tunde Rahman, Sunday Dare, Daniel Bwala and Felix Morka, who are Coordinating Deputy Directors.
The council also has five spokespersons, led by Alake. The others are Alwan Hassan, Ayobami Oyalowo, Kemi Asekun-Shittu and Adamu Fanda.
For Oyedele, his absence from a prominent campaign role is attributed to his background as a technocrat rather than a career politician.
Oyedele came into government primarily as a technocrat and later became Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee. He is therefore not regarded as a politician with the traditional experience required for a frontline campaign role.
New Entrants
Although several members of Tinubu’s 2023 campaign team have returned for the 2027 election, the new council also contains a significant number of fresh faces.
Some of the new entrants joined the APC during the Tinubu administration, while others earned places in the campaign structure after securing major political offices or appointments.
Those included following their defection to the APC are Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri; Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah; Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori; Akwa Ibom State Governor Umo Eno; Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal; former Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa; former Senate President Pius Anyim; former Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara; Senator Uche Ekwunife; Senator Biodun Olujimi; and Senator Shehu Sani.
Other new entrants who joined the team through government appointments include Minister of Health, Dr Ali Pate; Chairman of the Nigerian Revenue Service (NRS), Zach Adedeji; Minister of Defence, General Chris Musa; Minister of State for Budget and Economic Planning, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite; and presidential spokesman Daniel Bwala.
The private sector and entertainment industry are also represented, with former Super Eagles player Joseph Yobo, Nollywood actor Zach Orji and businessman Obinna Iyiegbu, popularly known as Obi Cubana, making the list.
Other new members include the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Segun Aina, who is Secretary of the Digital Operations Centre (Situation Room); General Leo Irabor, who heads the Security Directorate; and former Lagos State Governor Akinwumi Ambode, who is assigned to the Contact Mobilisation Committee.
Controversial Members
Beyond the new entrants, the composition of the campaign council has also attracted controversy over the inclusion of some members with previous public accountability or corruption-related issues.
One of the most prominent is NRS Chairman Zach Adedeji, who has been appointed Deputy Director of Fundraising II.
Former Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye, has threatened to challenge Adedeji’s appointment in court, arguing that his position as head of the country’s revenue-collecting agency could create a conflict of interest.
In a video posted on his official X account on Sunday, Melaye questioned the decision to appoint Adedeji to a fundraising position in the President’s campaign organisation.
“The most important aspect of the list that was released by the APC is to see the Chairman of FIRS—the body that collects our revenue as a nation—the Chairman of FIRS is the Deputy Director or Deputy Chairman, or whatever it is, for fundraising for Tinubu’s presidential campaign.
“You are serving as the country’s Chairman of Nigerian Revenue Service, NRS, formerly known as FIRS. Is there no conflict in this? As a lawyer, by the grace of God, on Monday, I’m going to court. We have to test that,” he said.
Melaye argued that Adedeji, as a public servant, was expected to comply with the Public Service Rules and relevant public ethics guidelines.
“If that is not conflict of interest, I don’t know what else it would be. That a man who is a public servant, a man who is a salary earner, a man who is supposed to observe the provisions of the public ethics guidelines of Public Service Rules (PSR)—the man who is supposed to observe PSR is not just supporting Tinubu, he is a member of the Presidential Campaign Council, and he is the Deputy Director in charge of fundraising. And meanwhile, you are in charge of revenue collection of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
Another controversial inclusion is former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, who has been appointed Director of Women Mobilisation.
Edu was suspended from office by President Tinubu following the controversy over an alleged attempt to transfer N585 million to a private account. An investigation was subsequently launched into financial transactions involving the ministry under her watch.
Also on the campaign council is former board chairman of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Ngozi Olejeme, who was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja.
Olejeme was arraigned on eight counts bordering on alleged conversion, transfer, procurement and possession of proceeds of unlawful activity involving N1 billion.
Similarly, former Plateau State Governor, Senator Joshua Dariye, and former Taraba State Governor, Jolly Nyame, have been assigned roles in the campaign council.
Dariye was sentenced to 14 years in prison over a N1.126 billion fraud case. His sentence was later reduced by four years after the Supreme Court affirmed an earlier Court of Appeal judgment.
Nyame was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for diverting public funds. The sentence was later reduced to 12 years in 2020 after the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeal’s judgment.
Both Dariye and Nyame, who served as governors at the same time as Tinubu, were released from the Kuje Correctional Facility in the Federal Capital Territory in August 2022 after receiving presidential pardons.
Their inclusion, alongside other controversial figures, has drawn criticism from the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which described Tinubu’s emerging 2027 campaign council as a “rehabilitation centre” for individuals facing unresolved corruption allegations.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC questioned the inclusion of Edu and Olejeme and challenged the government to disclose whether the cases involving them had been resolved or whether their appointments amounted to political rehabilitation.
The party argued that many of those assembled for the campaign lacked credibility and maintained that the 2027 election would amount to a referendum on Tinubu’s performance during his first term.
“We have taken note of the composition of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 campaign council. What should ordinarily be a political task team ends up looking like a rehabilitation system for individuals carrying unresolved questions of corruption and public accountability.
“We note, especially, the inclusion of former Humanitarian Affairs Minister Betta Edu, who was suspended by President Tinubu following the controversy surrounding the attempted transfer of N585 million into a private account, as well as former NSITF Chairman Ngozi Olejeme, who has faced EFCC prosecution over allegations of financial malpractices, among others whose names carry the pungent odour of corruption.
“One important question that the inclusion of these individuals provokes is what happened to the cases involving these individuals. If they have been cleared, the government should show how, when, and by whom they were cleared. It has become a familiar pattern under this administration for investigations into financial crimes to quietly disappear, only for the accused to suddenly reappear in a different official role.
“Under this government, corruption allegations increasingly appear to have an expiry date. Once a person becomes politically useful enough, yesterday’s questions apparently no longer require today’s answers,” the statement read.
Northern Muslim Intellectual Forum Backs Tinubu’s Second Term
Meanwhile, the Muslim Intellectual Forum, comprising members from the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, has passed a vote of confidence in President Tinubu and endorsed his bid for a second term.
The forum announced its position during a technical session and closed-door meeting held in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital.
More than 500 members attended the meeting, which was also attended by Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin; Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Ibrahim Kabiru Masari; and Minister of State for Housing, Dr Muttaka Darma.
Also present were Governors Umar Namadi of Jigawa State, Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State, Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, Uba Sani of Kaduna State and Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto State, as well as representatives of the governors of Kebbi and Katsina states, among others.
The Muslim Intellectual Forum, led by Sheikh Abdullahi Sale Pakistan, is a coalition of Islamic preachers, Juma’at imams, academics and other Islamic scholars who deliver lectures and participate in intellectual forums.
Presenting the resolutions of the meeting to journalists, Darma said the forum reviewed developments in the North over the past three years, particularly in infrastructure, roads, railways, education, water supply, healthcare and other public services.
He said the forum was satisfied with Tinubu’s efforts to promote security, social stability and the economic well-being of northern Nigeria and the country as a whole.
“After expressing satisfaction with the exemplary leadership of President Bola Tinubu, the forum has endorsed his second-term bid and urged all well-meaning Nigerians to support him for the achievement of a greater Nigeria,” the minister stated.
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