President Bola Tinubu has named Senate President Godswill Akpabio as the Deputy Director General South I of the All Progressives Congress (APC) 2027 Presidential Campaign Council, as the ruling party formally organises its push to secure a second term for the Nigerian leader.

The 223-member Presidential Campaign Council will serve as the main body driving Tinubu’s re-election effort, covering political mobilisation, stakeholder engagement, and the planning and coordination of campaign activities across the country. The Punch noted this development.

Tinubu’s bid for a second term arrives at a politically difficult moment. His main challengers, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Obidient Movement’s Peter Obi, have both built their campaigns around widespread frustration over economic hardship and insecurity, arguing that nearly 12 years of APC rule have left Nigeria poorer, more indebted, and no safer than when the party first came to power under Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

Cheta Nwanze, a partner at Nigeria-based risk advisory firm SBM Intelligence, said, according to Reuters: “The APC’s tenure from 2015 to 2026 makes for unhappy reading and Tinubu’s reforms have particularly brought severe pain.

“Our voter tracker shows nearly 80% of Nigerians say the country is headed in the wrong direction with 45% citing economic hardship and insecurity as their top concern.”

Since taking office, Tinubu moved quickly on economic policy, removing a decades-old fuel subsidy and devaluing the naira twice.

While those moves won approval from investors and international lenders, they triggered a sharp cost-of-living crisis that many Nigerians describe as the worst in a generation, and fuelled widespread street protests.

Tinubu, who critics have nicknamed “T-Pain” in reference to soaring living costs under his watch, has defended the reforms as necessary corrections to years of excessive government intervention in the economy.

His argument to voters is that short-term hardship will give way to longer-term gains, though polling figures suggest many Nigerians remain unconvinced.

Peter Obi, one of Tinubu’s key rivals, resigned from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) on May 2, 2026, and was ratified as the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 elections on May 29, 2026, adding further competitive pressure to the ruling party’s campaign planning.

The presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has approved the appointment of Anthony Ehilebo as his Special Adviser on Media and Digital Communication.

Naija News reports that the appointment was disclosed in a statement on Thursday by Makinde’s Special Adviser on Media, Sulaimon Olarenwaju, in Ibadan, the state capital.

According to the statement, the appointment takes immediate effect, with further campaign team announcements to follow.

The APM presidential candidate said Ehilebo’s expertise as a communication strategist and lawyer would be a powerful asset in driving the APM’s message of resetting Nigeria and securing victory in the 2027 presidential election.

Makinde charged Nigerians to stand firm and rally behind the APM.

He stated that the 2027 election was a historic opportunity to rescue Nigeria from what he described as the failed leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“With unity, courage, and determination, we will reclaim Nigeria’s destiny and deliver the future our people deserve,” Makinde affirmed.

Meanwhile, the APM has alleged that President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are afraid of the growing popularity of its 2027 presidential candidate, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State.

The party, which spoke against the backdrop of the exclusion of Governor Makinde from the flag-off ceremony of the Ibadan-Ijebu Ode road project on Monday, said the federal government and the APC were afraid that Makinde’s growing popularity would eclipse their presence if he had been invited for the event.

The APM, in a statement on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Abubakar Yusuf, added that the presidency and the APC are uncomfortable with the governor’s rising profile ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

According to the APM, “The Tinubu Presidency and the APC were scared that Makinde’s presence at the event would have further exposed President Tinubu’s failures, as the APM presidential candidate has done far better than the President in the last three years, including in the execution of road projects.”

The party claimed that while Tinubu, who hails from the South-West, had been unable to point to the initiation, execution and completion of up to 250 kilometres of roads across the region since assuming office in 2023, Makinde had executed more than 360 kilometres of roads in Oyo State alone.

It added that more road projects executed by the Oyo governor were awaiting commissioning.

The APM also accused the APC of being uneasy about Makinde’s ability to unite governors, political leaders and other stakeholders across the country on major national issues.

Ikeja, Lagos State – Businessman and politician Pratt Tunde has taken legal action at the Federal High Court in Lagos, challenging what he described as the secret replacement of his name as the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate for the Lagos Mainland federal constituency ahead of the 2027 elections.

As reported by The Nation on Monday, August 24, Pratt claimed he won the NDC primary held on May 29, 2026, an exercise he said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) monitored and certified. He alleged that the NDC leadership subsequently removed his name and replaced it with that of one Tunji Sanni, without his knowledge or consent.

He said he discovered the change on Saturday, August 1, 2026, and immediately set about challenging it within the constitutional deadline.

“I discovered the unlawful candidate substitution on Saturday, 1st of August, 2026. By virtue of Section 285(9) of the 1999 Constitution, I have an absolute maximum of 14 days to file this action, which means my right to sue expires on Saturday, 15th of August, 2026,” he said in an affidavit filed alongside his application.

Pratt challenges NDC candidate substitution.

In the affidavit, Pratt told the court that his inability to access INEC’s nomination portal had already begun causing him concrete harm.

“Because of this unlawful candidate swap, I am locked out of the official INEC nomination portal. I am suffering permanent, unrecoverable political and financial damage as I cannot print posters, mobilise structure, or launch my campaigns for the Lagos Mainland Federal Constituency,” he said.

He also pointed to INEC’s revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general elections as evidence that the court needed to act without delay, warning that ballot papers could be printed with the substituted candidate’s name before any judgment was delivered.

“If this suit is not granted an expedited hearing immediately, the 3rd Respondent (INEC) will print final ballot papers using the name of the illegal candidate, which will render the final judgment of this Honourable Court completely useless,” he said. 

Pratt asked the court to declare the substitution illegal and void and to direct INEC to restore his name as the party’s candidate. He also urged the court to hear the matter on a day-to-day basis to avoid what he called “a complete miscarriage of justice.

INEC, NDC face Pratt’s legal challenge.

Pratt’s legal team is led by Ajose Abejoye. One of the firm’s lawyers, Kaosara Afariogun, stressed that the case was about more than one man’s candidacy.

“Honourable Pratt played by the rules and won fair and square. To see his dedication and the mandate of everyday people allegedly stolen by a secret political plot is unacceptable,” she said.

In a message to his supporters, Pratt said:

“My heart breaks not for myself, but for the beautiful, hardworking people of Lagos Mainland whose hopes were traded away in the dark.”