Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has predicted that President Bola Tinubu will win the 16 January 2027 presidential election by a landslide, insisting that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is stronger than its critics believe. His comments came as Vice President Kashim Shettima took the party’s presidential campaign to Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, where he told supporters that federal investments in roads, security and agriculture are changing the economy of the South-East.
With just over two months to the presidential poll, the ruling party is pressing hard in the South-East, a region where it has historically struggled and where opposition candidates are also campaigning for votes.
Kalu: “Tinubu has no competition”
Speaking in an interview on Arise News Television on Monday night, Kalu, the senator representing Abia North and a former governor of Abia State, said the President faces no serious challenger. According to The News Chronicle, he said: “President Tinubu will win. President Tinubu has no competition.”
Blueprint reported that Kalu argued the APC’s strength “goes beyond the personality of the President”, pointing to the party’s structures across the country. He also said APC lawmakers had already begun mobilising support in their constituencies.
Kalu dismissed criticism of the government on social media, saying, according to The News Chronicle, that what is seen online does not reflect the situation on the ground. He urged Nigerians to allow Tinubu to complete two terms, as former President Muhammadu Buhari did.
Defending the reforms
The senator defended the administration’s economic policies, including the removal of fuel subsidy and the overhaul of the foreign exchange market, which have been blamed for high living costs. According to Blueprint, he said the President “has stabilised economy on the macro level” and argued that reform inevitably comes with hardship, citing the experience of Brazil under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Kalu said foreign exchange and fuel prices had become more predictable, and named agriculture, security and better access to raw materials for manufacturers as areas where the government should now focus.
Shettima lists projects at Abakaliki rally
At the APC presidential campaign rally in Abakaliki, Vice President Shettima said the Tinubu administration’s investments in security, infrastructure, agriculture and human capital were transforming the South-East, Vanguard reported. He told the crowd that Ebonyi had benefited from the government and should renew the President’s mandate.
According to Vanguard, Shettima pointed to the Calabar–Ebonyi–Benue–Kogi–Nasarawa–Abuja superhighway, the Enugu–Abakaliki–Ogoja expressway, the Ndibe Bridge linking Ebonyi and Cross River, and a Nigerian Army recruits training depot at Amasiri-Edda. He also cited the South-East Development Commission, the South-East Vision 2050 blueprint and an approved South-East Investment Company.
The Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Abdulaziz Yari, set a target of at least 1.2 million votes in Ebonyi, while Works Minister David Umahi raised it to 1.3 million, Vanguard reported. Ebonyi Governor Francis Nwifuru used the occasion to appeal for a 330kV transmission line for the state.
Opposition pushes back
Opposition parties reject the APC’s claims. At a rally in Jos, Plateau State, Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde, presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), accused the ruling party of building a country that works only for its members, according to Vanguard. The People’s Redemption Party also accused the APC of stifling the opposition.
Other challengers, including the ADC and NDC, have centred their campaigns on the cost of living, insecurity and the use of savings from subsidy removal.
What happens next
The presidential and National Assembly elections hold on 16 January 2027, with governorship and state assembly polls scheduled for 6 February. The APC campaign is expected to continue its tour of the states in the coming weeks, while the main opposition candidates step up their own rallies. How the South-East votes, after years of low turnout and strong support for opposition candidates, is likely to be one of the key questions of the election.
Sources: Blueprint, The News Chronicle, Vanguard.
