By The Federal Government has rejected claims by Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate Peter Obi and his running mate Rabiu Kwankwaso that President Bola Tinubu will lose the 2027 election, as the ruling APC, the ADC and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike also clashed over Rivers State’s political future.
Musa Predicts Clean Sweep for APC
Defence Minister Christopher Musa used a Thursday appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today to insist the APC would win the presidency, the Kaduna governorship and other elective contests in the state, pushing back on suggestions of growing opposition to the ruling party in the North. His comments came hours after Obi and Kwankwaso told supporters they were ready to resist any attempt to manipulate next year’s polls.
Asked about perceptions that Kaduna voters might punish the APC and Tinubu over the administration’s performance, Musa waved off the idea as just that, a perception, arguing that everyone carries their own view of things, good, bad, and ugly. Pressed on whether the APC could lose Kaduna in 2027, he was unequivocal, saying he was certain the party would win, and when asked whether that covered the governorship race specifically, he extended the claim further, saying the party would win at the presidential, governorship, and all other levels.
On the broader narrative of rising anti-APC sentiment in the North, Musa, who hails from the region himself, argued that some people push that narrative because they are dissatisfied with their own circumstances and are trying to whip up sentiment against the party. He defended Tinubu’s record by pointing to what he called painful but necessary decisions whose benefits are only now beginning to show, predicting that Nigerians would eventually come to appreciate the logic behind the administration’s economic policies once results become clearer. He closed firmly, stating plainly that the APC would win.
Obi Vows Voters Will Not Be Intimidated
Earlier Thursday, Obi and Kwankwaso addressed supporters at a town hall themed “Obi Talks Nigeria” in Port Harcourt, promising that nobody would intimidate them or subvert their will at the polls in 2027. Obi warned it would be delusional to think the coming election could be manipulated as easily as the 2023 contest, arguing that with typically no more than five officials present at any polling unit against an average of 40 to 50 voters, there was no way a handful of people could intimidate a crowd that size, especially with proper coordination in place.
Obi, who ran on the Labour Party platform in 2023 and finished third with 6,101,533 votes behind Tinubu’s winning 8,794,726 and Atiku Abubakar’s 6,984,520, has long maintained that the last election was marred by manipulation and intimidation of his supporters and continues to insist he won both Rivers State and the presidency that year. He argued that many of the officials stationed at polling units come from families struggling with hunger, with some policemen’s own children out of school, and suggested their real interest lies in seeing votes properly defended and counted.
He also aimed at the INEC Result Viewing Portal, predicting attempts to manipulate it but promising that multiple backup portals would be available this time so that any network glitch would not be allowed to derail the process the way it has in the past. He closed with a personal, defiant note, saying that if others were prepared to risk everything for this fight, he was ready to do the same.
Kwankwaso Invokes Jonathan’s 2015 Defeat
Kwankwaso argued that Nigeria needs a president who is committed, strong, and energetic enough to meet the scale of the country’s challenges and urged voters not to repeat past mistakes by picking leaders who lack the experience to govern effectively, warning that such a choice would prove too costly to the country in the long run.
Dismissing the idea that the APC’s control of more than 30 state governments makes it unbeatable, Kwankwaso pointed back to 2015, when sitting President Goodluck Jonathan lost re-election despite holding power at the time. He argued that a similar pattern was visible now, particularly among APC governors in the North, whose performance he described as poor enough that many are struggling to even campaign confidently, having, in his telling, delivered little from top to bottom.
Rivers NDC Candidate Vows Resilience
The NDC’s governorship candidate in Rivers State, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, thanked party members for their patience and sacrifice, promising the party would help build a Nigeria that works and praising Rivers supporters for their courage. He described courage not as an absence of fear but as fear that has ultimately set people free.
APC Calls Obi and Kwankwaso’s Claims Cheap Talk
Responding for the APC, National Secretary Ajibola Basiru dismissed the pair’s warnings as cheap talk rooted in a poor reading of history, pointing out that former President Muhammadu Buhari won re-election as a sitting president with his party also winning across many states at the time. He suggested Obi and Kwankwaso were suffering from selective memory and argued that a party without governorship candidates in at least 12 states and lacking National Assembly candidates in a large number of constituencies is in no position to talk about winning a presidential election on rhetoric alone, adding that the APC remained confident Nigerians would re-elect Tinubu.
ADC Rejects Wike’s Rivers Claims
Separately, the ADC in Rivers State dismissed a claim by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike that his allies would defeat both the ADC and NDC in Rivers State and the FCT in next year’s polls. Responding on behalf of the party, State Publicity Secretary Chizi Enyi, an ally of ADC vice presidential candidate Rotimi Amaechi, accused Wike of making the claim mainly to please President Tinubu, describing him as someone prone to saying one thing while doing another.
Enyi pointed to Wike’s past political loyalties, arguing that Wike once treated Dr Peter Odili as central to his political survival and later hailed former President Goodluck Jonathan as almost untouchable during his time as governor, only for both men’s influence to fade since. He suggested Tinubu could eventually meet a similar fate. Enyi said the ADC was unbothered by Wike’s comments, alleging that while his party focuses on campaigning, the other side is preoccupied with lobbying INEC and altering electoral officer postings.
He expressed confidence that the Abubakar-Amaechi ticket represents the party to beat, citing Amaechi’s record as a former Rivers State governor, and argued that Wike’s association with intimidation and inconsistency would count against him, predicting that by the time the 2027 election concludes, Wike’s influence will belong firmly to the past.
The exchange unfolds as Nigeria’s major parties sharpen their messaging ahead of the 2027 general election, with disputes over the legacy of the 2023 polls, control of Rivers State and perceptions of APC performance in the North all emerging as early flashpoints in the contest to succeed or retain the presidency.
