Nigeria’s Minister of Works David Umahi urged the South-East to back President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid, arguing that the region could gain support for a future presidential run.
At an All Progressives Congress (APC) town hall in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, on Nov. 1, Umahi challenged the case for rallying behind former Anambra Gov. Peter Obi, Punch and Channels Television reported. Obi won all five South-East states in the 2023 presidential election, according to results from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“We don’t have any presidential candidate in the South-East,” Umahi said, according to Punch. INEC, however, lists Obi as the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) nominee and Tinubu as the APC nominee, as EconoTimes reported when the 2027 candidate list was published. Umahi’s remark was a political appeal, not a description of the official list.
Umahi argued that supporting Tinubu now could help the South-East secure backing from other parts of Nigeria when a candidate from the region seeks the presidency in a later election. That prospective support was his case for changing the region’s political alignment, rather than an agreement announced by other regions.
He also urged religious and traditional leaders to support Tinubu, Punch reported. Nigeria’s Ministry of Information and National Orientation identifies Umahi as a deputy director-general on Tinubu’s 2027 APC presidential campaign council.
In Ebonyi, Umahi set a goal of 1.3 million votes for Tinubu and Gov. Francis Nwifuru in the 2027 elections, according to Punch. He said the state had 1.8 million registered voters. The voter figure was Umahi’s claim, while the smaller figure was his campaign target.
INEC’s report on the 2023 election records 6,101,533 votes nationwide for Obi, who ran then as the Labour Party candidate. He is seeking the presidency this time on the NDC ticket.
INEC has scheduled Nigeria’s presidential election for Jan. 16, 2027, followed by governorship elections on Feb. 6.
