Akpabio predicts APC sweep of South-South in 2027, credits Rivers peace
- Senate President Godswill Akpabio told a Port Harcourt rally that the APC will win the South-South in the January 16, 2027 elections.
- He said peace in Rivers State and the FCT appointment of Nyesom Wike would help deliver the zone for President Tinubu.
- Akpabio cited student loans, tax reforms, higher reserves and the coastal highway as reasons to back the government.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has predicted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will win across the South-South in the January 16, 2027 general elections, with Rivers State leading the way for President Bola Tinubu.
He spoke on Saturday at the Rivers State Rainbow Coalition rally, held at the main bowl of the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Akpabio said the key thing needed to return Tinubu to the Villa was peace, and that Rivers had it. He pointed to the turnout of political leaders and stakeholders at the rally as proof of unity in the state.
He recalled that Rivers was the only South-South state the APC won in the 2023 presidential election, and said the party would repeat the feat. According to him, Tinubu won the state resoundingly then, not merely by the 25 per cent required.
Why Rivers matters to the APC
The Senate President tied Rivers' support for the President to the appointment of former Governor Nyesom Wike as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He praised Wike's work in Abuja, saying the state had produced a minister who has not disappointed the party.
"We have never seen such level of development before," Akpabio said of the FCT under Wike.
He listed what he called the administration's achievements as reasons for Nigerians to vote for Tinubu again. These include the student loan scheme, which he said has reached more than 100,000 students in Rivers State, tax reforms that unified the country's tax system, and the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which passes through the state.
Akpabio also said foreign reserves had risen from $4.5 billion to over $50 billion under Tinubu, and that Nigeria now earns more from taxation than from crude oil.
On the removal of the fuel subsidy, he said it was meant to stop corruption. He urged South-South residents to keep supporting the government, saying the party would keep campaigning even as the party in power.
He prayed that the rallies held in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states would not be in vain, and that the APC would celebrate victory after the 2027 polls.
What happens next
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has set the general elections for January 16, 2027. For ordinary Nigerians, the campaign will be judged on the issues Akpabio raised: fuel prices after subsidy removal, taxes, student loans and jobs. The APC's claim to the South-South will be tested at the ballot, with Rivers as the party's strongest foothold in the zone.
