President Bola Tinubu has reportedly ordered the dissolution and reconstitution of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 general elections.
This is believed to have come after controversy that greeted the first roaster released by the Presidency on Saturday.
TheWill quoted Tinubu as saying the directive followed concerns from senior members of the ruling party that the composition failed to adequately accommodate key stakeholders and did not sufficiently reflect the hierarchy, geographical spread and political structure of the party.
Sources said the President ordered the Presidency and the leadership of the National Assembly and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC to withdraw and review the initial composition and address the identified gaps before any new list is released.
Sources told The Nation that Tinubu was embarrassed by the lapses discovered in the list and was especially worried about the necessity of a campaign structure that would be able to bring together the major stakeholders and political actors of the party ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
“The President was surprised and shocked that limited input from key and experienced people of the party was taken in the final composition of the campaign council,” a source said.
The party, in the first campaign list, which former Zamfara State Governor, Senator Abdul’aziz Yari will lead as Director-General, also drew attention to the non-inclusion of some prominent APC members who are seen as major political stakeholders in their states and zones.
One of the major issues raised was the omission of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu.
Read Also: Tinubu’s Subsidy Removal Worsened Hardship, Made Naira Useless – Okonkwo
In the first arrangement, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, was appointed a Deputy Director-General for the Southern campaign, alongside Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas and Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, while Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele and Deputy Senate President, Jibril Barau were given coordinating roles.
But APC stakeholders argued that the designation appeared to place the Senate President in a campaign structure with or below other National Assembly officials who normally occupy different positions in the constitutional hierarchy.
The new arrangement would have to rectify the perceived imbalance and ensure proper integration of the leadership of the National Assembly into the campaign hierarchy, sources told the publication.
Also missing from the first list is the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Festus Keyamo (SAN) who was a prominent spokesman and Director of Public Affairs in the APCs 2023 presidential campaign.
The controversy also confirms a report by TheWill published earlier on prominent APC members with direct presidential campaign management experience who were not part of the initial roaster.
The former Governor of Plateau State and Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council for the 2023 election, Simon Lalong; senior advocate and former prosecutor with the EFCC, Festus Keyamo, who was one of the most visible persons that spoke for the campaign; and National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, who was Director of Stakeholders Relations in the 2023 structure.
The immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, who served as the National Youth Coordinator during the 2023 campaign was not part of the initial council.
Other notable absentees were former Ogun State Governors, Gbenga Daniel and Ibikunle Amosun and former Edo State governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
The exclusion of the governor of Edo State, Monday Okpebholo, has also become a major concern. Okpebholo has surfaced as a major political voice in the APC’s mobilization for the re-election of Tinubu and is viewed as a key part of the party’s growing political clout in the South-South.
However, the decision to review the campaign list has not shown any sign of Tinubu pulling back the appointment of Yari as Director General.
