The All Progressives Congress has released a proposed nationwide campaign rally schedule for the 2027 elections that runs from a flag-off in Kaduna on 24 October 2026 to a grand finale in Lagos on 9 January 2027. President Bola Tinubu is expected to appear personally in only 12 of the 36 states and the FCT, leaving the rest to party leaders and campaign council members. The schedule is described as proposed and subject to confirmation.
Key Highlights
- APC’s proposed 2027 rally schedule runs from Kaduna on 24 October 2026 to a Lagos finale on 9 January 2027.
- Tinubu is expected to appear personally in only 12 of the 36 states and the FCT.
- He reportedly won just three of the 12 states (Rivers, Oyo and Borno) in 2023.
- Stops include Adamawa, Atiku’s home state, and Oyo, governed by APM presidential candidate Seyi Makinde.
- The presidential election is scheduled by INEC for 16 January 2027.
What distinguishes the plan is not simply the limited personal appearances—Tinubu has already said he will prioritise governance and investor attraction over attending every stop—but the pattern in the 12 locations. Reports indicate he won just three of them (Rivers, Oyo and Borno) in 2023; he lost the other nine to Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi or Rabiu Kwankwaso. The itinerary therefore reads as a deliberate recovery map rather than a tour of safe ground.
The 12 Stops and Their Political Signals
The list includes Kaduna (North-West flag-off), Port Harcourt/Rivers (South-South), Jos/Plateau (North-Central), Ibadan/Oyo (South-West), Maiduguri/Borno (North-East), Enugu (South-East), Bauchi (North-East), Sokoto (North-West), Asaba/Delta (South-South), Kano (North-West), Yola/Adamawa (North-East) and Lagos (South-West finale).
Several of these carry clear political signalling. Adamawa is Atiku’s home state. Oyo is governed by Seyi Makinde, now the Allied Peoples Movement presidential candidate. Bauchi has been linked to the same opposition platform. Enugu, where Tinubu recorded only a few thousand votes in 2023 against hundreds of thousands for Obi, represents a rare personal foray into the South-East. Kano, meanwhile, has seen large recent defections into the APC. Rivers remains pivotal because of Nyesom Wike’s influence.
Bookends: Kaduna and Lagos
The bookends reinforce the strategy. Starting in Kaduna places the opening rally in the historic capital of the old Northern Region, and in a state where Governor Uba Sani has publicly pursued Christian-Muslim reconciliation and inclusive power-sharing after years of tension. Local APC leaders have framed the choice as recognition of northern support and a test of the state’s claimed unity ahead of 2027. Ending in Lagos returns the campaign to Tinubu’s political base and Nigeria’s commercial centre just days before the presidential election, now scheduled by INEC for 16 January 2027 under the revised timetable.
The compressed calendar—campaign flag-off in late October, finale in early January, election in mid-January—adds intensity. With campaigns formally open since mid-August under the Electoral Act timelines, the APC’s national structure is expected to fill the gaps in the states Tinubu skips. The party has already inaugurated a campaign council that includes figures from other parties, underscoring an attempt to build a broad coalition.
Read also:
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- 2027: APC Campaign Council Begins Borno Consultations, Meets Yari, Sheriff
Risks and the Opposition Counter-Narrative
Whether the selective presence succeeds will depend on turnout, local organisation and the durability of recent realignments. Entering states he lost, including the home grounds of principal opponents, is higher-risk than staying within strongholds. It also invites the counter-narrative already voiced by some opposition voices: that limited personal engagement reflects reluctance to defend the administration’s record on the economy and security. The APC’s response is that governance and the mobilisation work of governors, ministers and the campaign council matter more than the president’s physical presence at every stadium.
The schedule is less a conventional nationwide canvas than a calculated intervention: recover ground in places that rejected the ticket in 2023, test or consolidate emerging alliances, open with a gesture of northern reciprocity in a once-divided Kaduna, and close with a show of strength in Lagos. The results will show whether that map was drawn tightly enough.
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