President Bola Tinubu has constituted the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 general election, naming former Zamfara State Governor, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, as Director-General and appointing Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, as Secretary of the council. The council, announced on Saturday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, will be chaired by Tinubu, with Vice President Kashim Shettima and APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda serving as Vice Chairmen.
Uzodimma’s emergence as Secretary of the campaign council is significant, coming against widespread anticipation that the Imo governor, who also serves as Director-General of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, could emerge as head of Tinubu’s presidential campaign machinery. His appointment nevertheless places him at the heart of the APC’s campaign structure and gives him a major role in coordinating the party’s effort to secure Tinubu’s re-election in January 2027.
Former Imo State Governor and senator, Rochas Okorocha, was also named among the senior political figures who will serve as advisers to Tinubu in the campaign council. His inclusion is instructive, particularly against the backdrop of the former governor’s continued political relevance within the APC and his apparent standing with the President. Okorocha’s appointment indicates that, despite his political differences with some actors in the Imo APC, he remains a figure the presidency considers relevant to the party’s broader electoral calculations.
Okorocha’s inclusion is also coming amid his ongoing legal challenge to the emergence of Uzodimma as the APC’s candidate for the Imo West Senatorial District in the 2027 election. The former governor is challenging Uzodimma’s listing as the party’s candidate, creating an interesting political juxtaposition in which both men are involved in the same presidential campaign structure while remaining on opposing sides of a major intra-party contest in Imo.
Beyond the Imo political dimension, the campaign council brings together a broad coalition of APC leaders and political heavyweights. Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni were assigned roles as Deputy Directors-General for the campaign in the South and North, while Adams Oshiomhole will oversee mobilisation and President Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, will handle administration. James Faleke, who played a prominent role in the 2023 campaign, returns as Deputy Director-General for election planning, coordination and monitoring. (
The council also includes a media and strategic communication structure headed by Information and National Orientation Minister Mohammed Idris, alongside Dele Alake, Bayo Onanuga and Lanre Issa-Onilu, while Segun Dada returns as Director of New Media. Tinubu charged members of the council to work towards victory for the APC in the January 2027 elections, urging the various directorates to reach out to party members who were not formally listed and to showcase what the administration considers its achievements.
