Yari begins consultations for Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid

By Adebola Muili

The Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abubakar Yari, has commenced consultations with traditional and religious leaders across the country ahead of President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign.

Yari’s first major engagement in the consultation process was a visit to the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, following a prayer session attended by more than 1,000 Islamic clerics at his residence last week.

The consultations, according to the campaign council, are part of a grassroots mobilisation strategy expected to take Yari across the six geopolitical zones and cover both Christian and Muslim religious leaders.

Speaking during the visit to the Sultan, Yari said the campaign council would highlight the achievements of the Tinubu administration while seeking the support of Nigerians for the President’s re-election.

“We believe in justice. President Tinubu has achieved a lot and we can demonstrate that. We have a lot to showcase,” Yari said.

The Sultan, in his remarks, urged politicians and their supporters to conduct their activities responsibly, stressing that politics should be based on numbers and public support rather than violence.

“Politics is a game of numbers, not of death. In politics, what you need is people,” he said.

The Sultan also cautioned against the negative weaponisation of politics, while describing insecurity and poverty as challenges that require sustained efforts to reduce rather than problems that could be completely eliminated.

“We must not weaponise politics in a negative way. Insecurity is everybody’s problem,” he said.

He added: “You can never eradicate poverty. You can reduce it. You can never eradicate insecurity. But you can reduce it.”

The campaign council said Yari’s consultations would extend to the South-West, South-East, South-South, North-East and North-Central regions as part of efforts to build broad-based support for Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

It described Yari as a grassroots politician with extensive political experience and said he was expected to deploy his political network in the mobilisation of voters for the President.

The council said its mobilisation effort would target more than 20 million votes for Tinubu in the 2027 election.

Yari was appointed Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 presidential election, with the council expected to coordinate the party’s mobilisation and campaign activities ahead of the poll.

The consultation team, according to the statement, includes the governors of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states, as well as former Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari; former Sokoto State Governor and Senator, Aliyu Wamakko; former Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima?; former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim; former Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje; former Kebbi State Governor and Senator, Adamu Aliero; and Hon. James Faleke.

The next leg of the consultations is expected to take place in Lagos, where Yari is scheduled to engage traditional and political stakeholders, including the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu.