Yari says Tinubu's record and faith will win re-election in 2027
- APC campaign council director-general Abdulaziz Yari says President Tinubu will win the January 2027 election.
- Yari spoke in Mecca, where he joined Tinubu and others for Umrah, the lesser pilgrimage.
- He said the campaign will show Nigerians what the government has done and ask for another mandate.
The director-general of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), Senator Abdulaziz Yari, has said he expects President Bola Tinubu to be re-elected in the January 2027 presidential election.
Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State, said the president's performance record, his faith in God and the campaign council's work to win public support would convince Nigerians to vote for him again.
He spoke to journalists in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, at the weekend, according to a statement from the APC-PCC DG Media Office made available in Abuja on Saturday. He was there to join Tinubu and other Nigerians for Umrah, the Islamic lesser pilgrimage.
President Tinubu left Abuja for Makkah on Thursday to perform Umrah. His Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, had said the trip would give the President time for spiritual reflection and prayers for Nigeria's peace, unity, stability and progress.
Those who travelled with him include the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; Yari; and the founder of BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu.
What Yari said
Yari said the President's comments during a media chat in Saudi Arabia on Friday showed his trust in God. Tinubu had said: "I believe that Allah's wish in His court must prevail. And there's no other God but Allah."
Yari said this is what makes a leader. "When you ask him, he first prays for the country and every Nigerian," he said.
He added that the President believes only God can install or remove a leader, and that he depends on Allah to do for Tinubu what He did in 2023.
But Yari also said the campaign will not sit back. He said the council will talk to people, convince them and show them what the government has done and achieved.
"All the procedures we are undertaking to campaign, talk to people, convince them and show them what we have done and achieved will, by God's grace, convince the people to re-elect us," he said.
Why it matters
The 2027 presidential election is still more than a year away, but the campaigns are already taking shape. For ordinary Nigerians, the vote will be a chance to judge the government on the cost of living, fuel prices, security and jobs.
Yari's message is that the ruling party will run on its record and on the President's faith. Opposition parties are expected to argue that the record is not good enough.
