The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has established a target of 800,000 votes in Ekiti State for Bola Tinubu during the upcoming 2027 presidential election. This announcement was made by the Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdul'aziz Yari, who also assured that Northern Nigeria remains fully committed to delivering the president comprehensively.
Speaking at a high-profile party campaign gathering in Ado-Ekiti, Yari challenged the electorate in the South-West state to surpass the roughly 80 percent support recorded during previous electoral cycles.
Out of roughly 1,080,000 registered voters and over 900,000 collected Permanent Voter Cards, Yari outlined the party's objective. "We are looking for 800,000 votes, representing about 90 per cent," he stated, noting that the state administration had previously highlighted federal infrastructure projects, including educational support, youth and women empowerment programmes, and institutional developments executed under the current administration.
What did party leaders say about Northern backing and past performance?
Addressing the crowd, Yari emphasized the unwavering solidarity of the northern region toward the administration. He noted that northern voters outnumber those in several southern states combined and recalled historical political alliances. "We in Northern Nigeria, Bola, are more of us than you in Ekiti, than you in Ondo, than you in Oyo, than you in Osun, than you in Lagos. So, we in the north, we are ready for Asiwaju 2027, and we are going to deliver him from A to Z," Yari declared.
National Chairman of the APC, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, echoed these sentiments while presenting various party flagbearers running for seats in the National Assembly and the State House of Assembly. Yilwatda commended the administration's fiscal and social interventions, highlighting recent tax reforms designed to protect low-income earners.
"Today, all those small local traders in the market, people who earn less than 100 million Naira per annum, don’t pay tax. Freeing legitimate money being earned by the lowest people in society," Yilwatda explained. He also credited the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) with easing financial burdens for underprivileged families by providing monthly upkeep stipends to tertiary institution students.
How is the party positioning itself against opposition parties?
During the rally, Yari also challenged political opposition figures to present alternative economic blueprints, defending the administration's ongoing macroeconomic reforms and management of national indices such as inflation and foreign exchange rates.
Local political dynamics were also on display as former governorship candidates from rival parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party, the Allied Peoples Movement, and the Social Democratic Party, attended the event in a show of cross-party alignment regarding the 2027 presidential project.
Party leadership urged residents to turn out en masse for upcoming legislative elections scheduled for January 16 and February, assuring the electorate that increased electoral backing would attract greater federal presence and development projects to the state.