The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the North Central has announced plans to hold a grand rally in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, next Saturday as part of efforts to mobilise grassroots support for President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The rally is being organised under the North Central Grassroots Mobilisation Movement for Tinubu/Shettima, a regional initiative launched to coordinate political mobilisation across the six North Central states and the Federal Capital Territory.
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The announcement was contained in a statement issued on Saturday by Dele Alake, spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, following the inaugural meeting of the movement in Abuja.
The meeting was held at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, and was attended by political leaders and government officials from the region.
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Mr Akume, who commended the initiative, said the North-central had an overriding objective of delivering the highest regional vote total for Mr Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
He praised the movement’s National Coordinator, Sonny Echono, for establishing the forum and bringing political leaders and other stakeholders in the region together ahead of the election.
Mr Echono, a former Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), said the focus of the movement had shifted from whether Mr Tinubu would win the North-central to how the region could secure the highest number of votes for him in 2027.
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“The conversation is no longer simply about whether President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will win the North-central, but about the region positioning itself to deliver the highest number of votes to the president in the 2027 election,” he said.
The North-central zone comprises Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger and Plateau states, alongside the Federal Capital Territory.
The region is politically significant in presidential elections because of its sizeable voting population and its role as a swing region in national contests. Its voting pattern has also varied across election cycles, making the region an important target for major political parties ahead of 2027.
APC seeks to consolidate support
The governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule described the mobilisation initiative as timely, saying the political challenges facing the APC ahead of the 2027 election were gradually receding.
According to him, the latest voter register showed strong support for the APC across the North-central.
Mr Sule expressed confidence that the region would deliver the highest number of votes for Mr Tinubu and other APC candidates in the next election.
He also said the political strength of the region had increased since the 2023 election, pointing to the positions occupied by senior political figures from the North-central.
The region currently has the SGF and the national chairman of the ruling APC, among other senior government officials and political appointees.
Mr Sule said the party would use the grassroots mobilisation movement to take its message to communities across the region and build support for the Tinubu-Shettima ticket.
Mr Echono said the initiative would bring together political leaders, grassroots actors and other stakeholders under a common platform ahead of the election.
He commended Mr Akume, the North-central Governors’ Forum and other political stakeholders for their support for the Tinubu administration.
He described the movement as a strategic platform for mobilising support for the administration and strengthening the APC’s presence at the grassroots.
Medical outreach, town halls planned
Beyond political mobilisation, the forum resolved to organise medical outreach programmes across the region, establish a Reconciliation Committee and hold town hall meetings.
The medical outreach is expected to form part of the movement’s grassroots engagement, while the proposed reconciliation committee will address disagreements among party members and stakeholders in the region.
The forum also resolved that the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, would work with state commissioners for information, APC state publicity secretaries and state publicity committees to raise awareness about the initiative.
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The statement said the publicity effort would be carried out with the support of state governors.
Mr Idris described the movement as the first of its kind, although the statement did not provide details of how it differs from previous APC campaign or mobilisation structures.
At the end of the inaugural meeting, members resolved to intensify efforts to mobilise support for Mr Tinubu ahead of the 2027 election, with the stated goal of making the North-central the region with the highest vote total for the president.
The Lafia rally will be the first major public mobilisation event announced under the new regional initiative.
The APC’s push comes as political parties and emerging opposition alliances begin positioning themselves ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with the North-central expected to be an important battleground in the contest.
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