2027: Sanwo-Olu, Fashola, Ambode Join Lagos APC Campaign Council

The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has unveiled its 2027 campaign council, bringing together Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, former governors Babatunde Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode, and other prominent party figures ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The campaign structure contains an advisory council, the main campaign council and several specialised directorates and committees responsible for coordinating the party’s activities for the forthcoming elections.

Under the structure, Prince Tajudeen Olusi is designated Chairman of the Governance Advisory Council, while Governor Sanwo-Olu will serve as Chairman of the Advisory Council. Former governors Fashola and Ambode are listed as co-chairmen.

2027: Sanwo-Olu, Fashola, Ambode Join Lagos APC Campaign Council

Other prominent members of the advisory structure include Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Mudashiru Obasa, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly; and former Minister of Health, Adeleke Mamora.

Senior legal practitioners, including Muiz Banire, SAN, and Babatunde Ogala, SAN, are also listed in the advisory structure.

At the main Lagos APC campaign council level, Sanwo-Olu is listed as Chairman, while his deputy, Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, will serve as Deputy Chairman.

Cornelius Ojelabi is listed as Vice Chairman I, Obasa as Vice Chairman II and Damilola Sonayon James as Vice Chairman III.

Former Senator Musiliu Obanikoro has been named Director-General of the campaign council, with Rasaq Ajala as Deputy Director-General and Adekunle Olayinka as Campaign Secretary.

The council’s operational structure includes directorates and committees responsible for different aspects of the 2027 election campaign, including legal and compliance, party and inter-party affairs, administration and logistics, traditional institutions, diaspora engagement and residents’ associations.

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Lawal Pedro, SAN, is listed to head the Legal and Compliance Directorate, while Niji Kazeem, SAN, is named deputy.

Other legal professionals listed in the structure include Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, Supo Shashore, SAN, and Professor Yemi Oke.

The Party and Inter-Party Affairs Directorate is to be headed by Moshood Mayegun, while Olayinka will oversee Secretariat Administration and Logistics, assisted by Thomas Da-Silva.

Chief Kunle Odufuwa is designated to coordinate activities involving traditional institutions, while Gbolahan Gbadamosi will oversee diaspora engagement, with Jermaine Sanwo-Olu as deputy.

Azeez Aremu Amusat is listed to coordinate activities involving residents’ associations, community development associations and estates.

The campaign structure also provides for grassroots coordinators and co-coordinators across Lagos’ 20 local government areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas, giving the council a state-wide organisational framework.

The formal inauguration of the campaign council is scheduled for Friday, September 18, 2026, at the Lagos APC Secretariat on ACME Road, Ikeja.

The unveiling comes after the Lagos APC formally commenced its campaign activities for the 2027 governorship and House of Assembly elections under its “Mandate Must Continue” campaign theme.

The party’s state chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi, has called on members to intensify grassroots mobilisation across the state’s 20 local government areas and 37 LCDAs.

The party has also been mobilising for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid and other APC candidates in Lagos.

Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat have called for peaceful elections and urged residents and party supporters to avoid violence before, during and after the 2027 polls.

The newly released structure brings together current and former Lagos political office holders, party leaders, lawmakers, legal practitioners and grassroots organisers as the APC prepares for the 2027 electoral cycle.

The inclusion of Fashola and Ambode places both former governors within the party’s formal advisory structure for the forthcoming campaign, while Sanwo-Olu will lead the main campaign council.

The campaign council is expected to coordinate the party’s electioneering activities across Lagos, covering mobilisation, legal matters, party relations, logistics, community engagement and other campaign operations.

2027: Sanwo-Olu, Fashola, Ambode Join Lagos APC Campaign Council

2027: Sowore Rejects Utomi’s Coalition Talks, Says AAC Won’t Join Opposition Alliance

Omoyele Sowore, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) , has rejected fresh moves by the Movement for Credible Elections (MCE) to unite opposition presidential candidates behind a single candidate for the 2027 election.

In a statement on Thursday morning, Sowore said neither he nor the AAC was participating in the coalition discussions being coordinated by a political commission led by Professor Pat Utomi. He declared that the party would not join the proposed negotiations, insisting that the AAC’s political programme was fundamentally different from that of the established political parties.

“I have read a report … stating that a Political Commission led by Prof. Pat Utomi intends to hold talks with several presidential candidates, including myself, with the objective of producing a single opposition presidential candidate for the 2027 election,” Sowore said. “For the avoidance of doubt, neither I nor the African Action Congress (AAC) is part of these talks, and we will not be joining any such coalition.”

The AAC candidate said the party’s position was based on its ideological orientation, rather than political convenience or negotiations aimed at securing access to power. He argued that the party could not form an alliance with what he described as the political establishment it had consistently opposed.

“Many of the politicians now presenting themselves as an ‘alternative’ have, at different times, operated within the same political order, across the APC, PDP, Labour Party and other formations, that we know has failed Nigerians,” he said.

Sowore further said the AAC’s opposition extended beyond President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to what he described as the wider political system and governance practices that had contributed to Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges.

“Our opposition is not merely to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu or the evil All Progressives Congress party. It is to the political system and governing practices that have produced decades of poverty, corruption, inequality, insecurity and underdevelopment,” he stated.

He said the AAC would instead pursue what he described as a revolutionary break from the existing political order, anchored on social and economic justice, equal rights, accountable government and the redistribution of political and economic power. “We will not abandon that program for an arrangement whose principal objective is simply to replace one set of establishment politicians with another,” Sowore added.

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His rejection comes as the MCE Political Commission, chaired by Utomi, begins consultations with opposition presidential candidates and party leaders ahead of its planned tactical session in Ibadan in a fortnight. The commission is seeking to facilitate an agreement among opposition forces on a single presidential candidate for the 2027 election.

According to MCE Media Coordinator, James Ezema, the commission is expected to hold closed-door meetings with shortlisted candidates and their party leaders before the tactical session. The rationale for the closed-door engagements, the commission said, is to prevent what it described as “sabotage from political mercenaries and jobbers” opposed to the initiative and determined to frustrate the negotiations and horse-trading among the shortlisted presidential candidates. The movement stated that Nigeria cannot afford another opposition arrangement in which political actors agree on the need for a united front but disagree when it becomes necessary to determine the arrowhead and rallying point of that electoral alliance.

Those listed for consultation include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress; Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress; Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party; Seyi Makinde of the Allied Peoples Movement; Donald Duke of the Peoples Redemption Party; Sandy Onor of the Peoples Democratic Party; Peter Agada of the Young Progressive Party; and Sowore of the AAC. The shortlisted parties include the Social Democratic Party (SDP) , African Democratic Congress (ADC) , Allied Peoples Movement (APM) , National Democratic Congress (NDC) , Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) , Accord Party, Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) , African Action Congress (AAC) and Young Progressive Party (YPP) .

Apart from Professor Utomi, other members of the Political Commission expected to drive the tactical engagements include Hajia Maryam Inna Ciroma, Mrs Modupe Adelaja, Comrade Solomon Dalung, Hon. Uche Onyeagocha, Dr Olusegun Mayegun, Dr Sam Amadi, Mr Mike Igini, Obongawan Barbara Etim James, Veteran Olawale Okunniyi and Dr Adum Ter Alex, among others currently being enlisted for co-option.

MCE said the process would not merely require candidates to withdraw from the race, but would involve the development of agreed rules for selecting and endorsing an eventual candidate. It listed credibility, transparency, fairness, due process and a level playing field among the principles expected to guide the process. The commission emphasised that modalities and terms of endorsement will be agreed by all and not imposed, stating that all shortlisted parties must agree to clear, transparent terms and rules of engagement before the endorsement of the most acceptable presidential candidate.

MCE also said it would consider factors including national acceptability, competence, integrity, leadership profile, policy orientation, commitment to democratic institutions and capacity to unite diverse interests in assessing prospective candidates. The proposed coalition, according to the movement, would also be expected to produce a common governance programme addressing insecurity, unemployment, poverty, economic hardship, electoral reforms, constitutional reform, education, healthcare, energy and the cost of governance.

“The Nigerian people deserve more than a coalition of political personalities. They deserve a coalition of ideas, competence, values and a coherent ideological programme for national salvation,” the MCE said. The movement said its role was not to impose a presidential candidate on any party or aspirant but to facilitate a credible process through which the opposition could arrive at a broadly acceptable political arrangement. It urged all stakeholders to approach the engagement with an open mind and a willingness to place Nigeria’s democratic future above personal desires.

The MCE, however, concluded that every participating presidential candidate and their parties would have to make a prior commitment to respect the outcome of the process and support the adopted presidential candidate of the opposition coalition without equivocation in the 2027 elections.

However, the AAC candidate maintained that his party was pursuing a distinct political path. “The AAC is different. We know what we stand for, and we know the Nigeria we are fighting to build. We are not part of these coalition talks, and we will not be joining them,” he declared.

Sowore’s rejection is consistent with his long-standing position on opposition coalitions. In May 2026, he dismissed coalition talks as gatherings of “interest groups and persons who are interested in power,” arguing that the politicians involved were the same people who brought Nigeria to its current state. In August 2026, at the Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt, Sowore publicly disagreed with Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi on the need for an opposition coalition, stating: “I disagree with you that we need an opposition to defeat the incumbent. It is the people, the Nigerian people, that will defeat the incumbent, not their friends who do not want to change the old order.” He also said he would only work with politicians genuinely committed to changing the country, adding: “I will not work with anybody who simply wants to replace the old order with an older, even ricketier order.”

The AAC had previously adopted Sowore as its consensus presidential candidate for the 2027 elections in May 2026, with the party’s Presidential Primary Election Chairman, Kayode Babayemi, stating that the decision showed the party’s trust in Sowore’s “steady leadership and his long-term dedication to fighting for a fair and truly democratic Nigeria.” Upon accepting the nomination, Sowore said the AAC was the “only opposition party” that offers a real choice for Nigerians, emphasising that the party does not have connections to powerful figures or corrupt politicians.

2027: Sowore Rejects Utomi’s Coalition Talks, Says AAC Won’t Join Opposition Alliance

Sani Abacha’s Son Emerges Kano PDP Governorship Candidate for 2027

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State has affirmed Muhammad Sani Abacha, son of former military Head of State General Sani Abacha, as its candidate for the 2027 Kano State governorship election following the withdrawal of the party’s earlier flag bearer, Muhammad Bello Dalha.

Abacha emerged on Wednesday, September 16, during an expanded meeting of the Kano PDP State Executive Committee, where the party conducted an affirmation and replacement primary to fill the vacancy created by Dalha’s withdrawal.

The development was announced by the Kano PDP Chairman, Bello Gambo Bichi, who said Dalha had voluntarily stepped down after consultations with party stakeholders in Kano and at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja.

Bichi explained that Dalha had earlier won the party’s governorship primary but subsequently withdrew, making a replacement process necessary under the applicable electoral and party rules.

The replacement exercise was witnessed by representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The chairman of the replacement primary election panel, Dr Abba Abdullahi, formally declared Abacha the PDP’s governorship candidate after the exercise. He said the process was conducted in accordance with the PDP constitution, party guidelines, relevant regulations and applicable electoral laws.

Abdullahi also said Abacha had satisfied the requirements for nomination, while noting that his candidacy remained subject to the applicable statutory processes and scrutiny by the relevant electoral authorities.

The latest development marks a return for Abacha to the Kano governorship race. He contested the 2023 governorship election on the PDP platform and finished third in that election.

His return follows an earlier PDP primary in which Dalha emerged as the party’s candidate. Dalha’s subsequent withdrawal has now paved the way for Abacha to return to the contest through the replacement process.

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The PDP has also named Yusuf Ado Kibiya, a former Kano PDP chairman and former commissioner, as Abacha’s running mate.

According to the party leadership, Kibiya’s selection formed part of a reconciliation arrangement aimed at resolving divisions between rival factions within the Kano PDP.

Bichi said the deputy governorship slot was allocated to the faction associated with former Minister of Special Duties Kabiru Tanimu Turaki as part of the reconciliation process.

The party chairman said the agreement was reached after consultations and that the arrangement had resolved the factional dispute within the Kano PDP.

The reconciliation has also affected other positions on the party’s ticket, with Bichi disclosing that some candidates for the National Assembly and Kano State House of Assembly were replaced as part of the agreement to accommodate members of the different factions.

The PDP leadership has urged its members, leaders and supporters to unite behind the new governorship ticket as the party prepares for the 2027 general elections.

Bichi described the development as a new phase for the Kano PDP and said the party was strengthening its internal structure ahead of the election.

The emergence of Abacha gives the PDP a candidate with previous experience of contesting the Kano governorship. His 2023 campaign was conducted under the PDP, although he did not win the election.

The political landscape in Kano has since changed, with parties preparing new structures and candidates for the 2027 contest.

The PDP’s latest decision also illustrates the role of candidate replacement and internal reconciliation in the preparations for the next election. Rather than overturning the earlier primary result, the party’s process followed the withdrawal of the candidate who had initially secured its ticket.

The party has maintained that the replacement exercise complied with the Electoral Act, its constitution and relevant electoral guidelines. INEC representatives were present during the process, according to the PDP leadership and reports of the exercise. (Vanguard News)

For now, Abacha becomes the PDP’s candidate for the Kano governorship election, with Kibiya as his running mate, while the party moves to consolidate its structure and prepare for the wider electoral contest.

The nomination remains subject to the statutory electoral processes that apply before the 2027 election.

With the replacement of Dalha and the accompanying reconciliation between the rival factions, the Kano PDP will now focus on campaigning, mobilisation and presenting its new ticket to voters as preparations for the 2027 election intensify.

Sani Abacha’s Son Emerges Kano PDP Governorship Candidate for 2027