Uba Sani says opposition now campaigns with AI as APC launches 2027 bid in Kaduna

Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani has told supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that opposition parties are now leaning on artificial intelligence (AI) to reach voters, and urged them to stay alert.

He spoke on Saturday in Kaduna at the formal launch of the APC's presidential campaign for the 2027 election, where President Bola Tinubu is seeking a second term.

According to the governor, the opposition has moved its messaging from Facebook to X (formerly Twitter) and now to AI tools. He said the parties were relying on generated content rather than meeting voters face to face, and asked APC supporters to be watchful.

A challenge to a 'northern candidate'

Sani also took aim at a rival he called "the northern candidate", without naming him in the reported remarks. He said the man had asked for votes on the strength of where he comes from, and that he had yet to show what he had done in office.

He pressed the point with a comparison: he said more than 1,000 kilometres of roads had been built in the North under Vice President Kashim Shettima, and asked whether the rival could point to 200 kilometres of road delivered in the North East while he was vice president.

The governor said voters in Kaduna and the wider North would repay the president with their ballots, and pointed to January 2027 as the month they would turn out.

He listed projects he credited to the administration, including the reconstruction of the 123km Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road, which he said had been abandoned for more than 40 years and has had ₦117bn released to the contractor. He also said the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway is 95 per cent complete, with the president assuring him that ₦740bn would be paid for the work.

On the metropolitan red line project, which has Kaduna as pilot state, Sani said $865m had been approved and that contractor Mota-Engil had mobilised $300m for the roughly 50km corridor.

The Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Senator Abdul'aziz Yari, said the party would run on its record in infrastructure, health, education and human capital development. He said the campaign had been engaging traditional rulers and clerics, and predicted a strong showing for Tinubu across the North in January 2027.

What happens next

The rally opens the APC's national campaign ahead of the 2027 general election. Nigerians will judge the competing claims about roads, security and jobs at the ballot.