The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has said the Peoples Democratic Party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance and the Accord Party are backing President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The Punch reported that Yilwatda also announced that the APC had concluded preparations for the official launch of its presidential campaign in Kaduna on Saturday, October 24.
The APC chairman disclosed this on Tuesday after meeting with Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja alongside the Director-General of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council, Abdul’aziz Yari, to brief the President on the campaign arrangements.
According to Yilwatda, the support of parties that had previously defeated the APC in elections demonstrated the growing political backing for the ruling party.
He said, “If you look at what the party is doing now, the opposition parties are with us. All political parties that have defeated us in any election are with us; PDP is with us, APGA is with us, Accord is with us.
“These are the only political parties that have defeated us, except Allied People’s Movement, and they are all with us in this campaign,” he stated.
On the planned campaign launch in Kaduna, Yilwatda expressed confidence that all necessary arrangements had been completed.
“For now, everything is set; the preparation is on, the members are motivated, the states, the committees are ready, and everything that is supposed to be done has been done.”
Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State, said the APC intended to campaign on the performance of the Tinubu administration rather than engage in personal attacks against political opponents.
He said, “We are going to do a campaign with the records – a responsible campaign, no insults, no calling of names, because there’s no name before us, but we have a record before us to show to Nigerians.
“This is what our party did, this is what our government did, so because of that, we are asking, pleading with Nigerians to look at this record carefully so that they give us a second chance for continuity,” he stated.
Yari added that Tinubu had approved the campaign schedule, including planned visits to states, following a meeting with the President on October 9.
The Presidential Campaign Council was inaugurated on October 14, with Tinubu as chairman and Vice President Kashim Shettima and Yilwatda serving as vice chairmen.
The Accord Party’s presidential candidate, Christopher Imumolen, withdrew from the race on August 5 and endorsed Tinubu.
Similarly, APGA National Chairman Sly Ezeokenwa said in March that the party would not field a presidential candidate and intended to adopt the President.
Meanwhile, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who has declared himself the leader of the PDP, has pledged to ensure that the APC secures votes in the FCT and Rivers State.
However, a rival PDP faction led by Tanimu Turaki (SAN) has challenged Wike’s claim to the party’s leadership and rejected any proposed alliance with the APC ahead of the 2027 elections.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the faction’s National Publicity Secretary of the Interim National Working Committee, Ini Ememobong, said its members would neither support Tinubu’s re-election nor endorse the policies of the APC-led Federal Government.
The faction described those advocating support for Tinubu as individuals posing as opposition members while working in the interest of the ruling party.
It stated, “The news credited to Minister Nyesom Wike that PDP candidates should collapse their structures and support the re-election of President Bola Tinubu is nothing new, except for the fact that his message is not directed at real PDP members. The message is meant for persons who, like him, are pretenders in the opposition but are working for the governing party.
“The true and principled members of the Peoples Democratic Party are not part of the shameless, self-serving support for the APC-led Federal Government and its destructive policies. The paramount duty of the opposition is to provide an alternative to the incumbent, not to massage their ego. If at all opposition parties are to have an alliance, it will be amongst themselves, not with the governing party.
“This political anomaly, styled and championed as a Rainbow Coalition, is the greatest threat to electoral democracy and the fastest way of railroading the country into an electoral monarchy.
“We urge all true and faithful members of the Peoples Democratic Party to remain steadfast as we await the judiciary’s decision, hopeful that it will return our party to its true owners. Our case at the Court of Appeal has been heard, and we await judgment. We know that the entire judiciary is conscious that justice delayed is justice denied.
“Nigerians should be wary of elite accommodation and state capture masquerading as broad-based political collaboration. The election next year provides a great opportunity to vote out these insensitive and irresponsible political actors.”
