The appointment of three heavyweight opposition figures into President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign council is causing fresh crisis inside the ruling party and panic among opposition candidates.
The three politicians – Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke and Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo – were on Tuesday unveiled as coordinators for Tinubu’s campaign.
Wike, a PDP chieftain, was named coordinator for Rivers and the FCT. Soludo of APGA will coordinate Anambra, while Adeleke, who won his governorship on the platform of Accord Party, will coordinate Osun.
While the Presidency sees it as a strategic move to capture opposition strongholds, the decision has unsettled loyal APC leaders in the three states who feel sidelined after years of loyalty to Tinubu and the party.
APC Leaders Fume Over Sidelining
Party insiders say the move has triggered quiet anger in Osun, Rivers and Anambra.
In Osun, sources claimed former Governor Gboyega Oyetola, who is the leader of APC in the state and Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, is unhappy that Adeleke was chosen over him to lead the President’s campaign.
In Rivers and Anambra, similar complaints have emerged, with long-standing APC stakeholders questioning why opposition figures were empowered over party loyalists.
“This is causing disaffection and dampening morale. Some members are no longer willing to give their all because they feel the party does not believe in them,” a senior APC source said.
Another chieftain warned that if aggrieved members decide to become onlookers, it could hurt Tinubu’s grassroots mobilisation.
But a member of the campaign council’s media team, Segun Showunmi, dismissed the fears, saying all governors and stakeholders will work collectively to deliver their states for the President.
Opposition Candidates Fear They Will Be Sacrificed
The crisis is not limited to the APC.
In Anambra, APGA candidates contesting for Senate and House of Representatives seats are privately worried that Soludo’s open campaign for Tinubu will confuse voters and weaken the party’s identity.
“We have laboured to keep APGA as an Igbo identity. If our leader is campaigning for APC president on the same day our candidates are contesting for Senate under APGA, the electorate will be confused. That is exactly how AD died in 2003,” a top APGA chieftain said.
An APGA candidate who spoke anonymously said many candidates are unhappy but cannot speak against the governor openly. “There is a possibility that they might all lose, even the good candidates among them,” he said.
However, APGA National Publicity Secretary, Mazi Ejimofor Opara and Anambra Chairman, Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, insisted there will be no confusion. According to them, the party’s position is clear: “Tinubu for President, APGA for Senate, House of Reps and House of Assembly.” They said APGA has not fielded a presidential candidate for 2027.
In Osun, Accord leaders are also divided. The party’s presidential candidate, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, argued that Adeleke cannot force Osun voters to vote Tinubu, recalling how the state rejected political directives in 2011.
The Ogun Chairman of Accord, Rotimi Oke, warned that Adeleke’s alliance with APC could weaken the party’s plan to expand to other South-West states.
But Delta Accord Chairman, Fred Obi, defended the move as national unity, saying cooperation at presidential level does not require abandoning party interests at legislative level.
PDP Divided Over Wike
In the PDP, Wike’s role has also split opinion. While some leaders in Kaduna warned that Wike, Adeleke and Soludo’s involvement will affect legislative candidates, others in Nasarawa, Sokoto, Imo, Abia and Jigawa said they have sensitised members to vote separately for President and National Assembly.
Edo PDP insisted it will not sacrifice its presidential and legislative candidates, declaring: “There will be no diversion of votes, no unholy political matrimony at the expense of PDP.”
In some states like Plateau, Abia and Bayelsa, APGA and Accord chapters said they have not even formally endorsed the alliance, insisting any decision must come from NEC.
The Ghost of 2003
The development has revived memories of 2003 when Alliance for Democracy (AD) supported Olusegun Obasanjo’s re-election but lost five of its six South-West governorships – Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti and Ondo – retaining only Lagos where Tinubu was governor.
Many fear history could repeat itself if voters punish opposition parties whose leaders openly campaign for Tinubu while their own legislative candidates fight against APC.
