WorldStage— President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has structurally decoupled his 2027 re-election campaign from the financial leverage of the Progressive Governors’ Forum by appointing Senator Abdulaziz Yari as Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.
In a strategic masterstroke announced by presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga, the President outmanoeuvred sitting state executives who had aggressively pushed for one of their own to lead the ruling party’s campaign machinery.
By sidelining powerful governors in favour of Yari—a former Zamfara State governor with independent financial muscle—Tinubu has effectively tamed the state-level power brokers, shifting the command center of his re-election bid firmly into Aso Rock.
For months, the battle over who would lead the ruling party’s campaign machinery intensified. Sitting governors pushed aggressively for one of their own, such as Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani or Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma.
However, in a strategic masterstroke announcement by Onanuga, Tinubu outmanoeuvred the state executives to hand the position to Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State.
The decision marks a deliberate attempt by the President to correct structural vulnerabilities from his first term.
In the 2023 elections, APC governors heavily funded and micromanaged the campaign structures in their respective states. This arrangement gave them significant leverage, allowing them to dictate party primaries, command large blocs within the National Working Committee, and extract heavy post-election patronage.
By appointing Yari, a politician with independent financial muscle and deep roots as a former head of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Tinubu has successfully tamed the state executives.
Insiders note that Yari possesses the unique capacity to run a self-sustaining national campaign machinery. This insulates the presidency from relying on gubernatorial goodwill and reduces the need to negotiate away critical federal appointments in a second term.
To pacify the governors and preserve party cohesion, Tinubu integrated key state actors into the broader campaign organogram. Governor Hope Uzodimma was named Secretary of the Campaign Council, while other heavyweights like Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas were appointed as Deputy Directors-General.
Accepting the role, Yari pledged to manage a disciplined, unified campaign focused on the administration’s policy achievements. With the campaign command safely outside the exclusive control of the state government houses, Tinubu has consolidated his grip on the party’s future, ensuring that the road to the January 2027 election is dictated firmly from Aso Rock.
