SOLUDO TARGETS 50% OF ANAMBRA VOTES FOR TINUBU AS APGA ADOPTS PRESIDENT FOR 2027

AWKA, November 7, 2026 Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has pledged to secure at least 50 percent of the state’s votes for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general election, formally declaring the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)’s support for the president despite the party’s decision not to field its own presidential candidate.

Soludo made the declaration on Friday, November 6, during the flag-off of APGA’s 2027 election campaign at Alex Ekwueme Square in Awka, where he told party supporters that Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), would also be APGA’s preferred candidate. The governor said the party had adopted presidential candidates from the ruling party in previous elections and described its backing of Tinubu as a continuation of that political arrangement.

“Today, we adopt the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as our candidate,” Soludo announced. He made it clear that APGA would not present a presidential candidate of its own in 2027, urging party members and residents of Anambra to support Tinubu while campaigning for APGA candidates contesting legislative and other elective positions.

The governor said Tinubu had demonstrated goodwill towards the South-East, particularly Anambra State, recalling that the president appointed several indigenes of the state to strategic positions during his tenure as governor of Lagos State. Soludo argued that the appointments reflected Tinubu’s relationship with the people of the region and formed part of the reasons behind APGA’s decision to support his re-election bid.

Soludo also pointed to what he described as federal government efforts to address challenges confronting Anambra and the wider South-East, despite the relatively small number of votes Tinubu received in the state during the 2023 presidential election. He reminded supporters that the president secured fewer than 5,000 votes in Anambra at the time, but maintained that his administration had continued to demonstrate concern for the state.

“We gave him only about 5,000 votes, and yet he is doing wonderful works in the state,” the governor said, urging residents to reconsider their voting choices in the next presidential election. He argued that stronger electoral support for Tinubu would give Anambra and the South-East greater access to the Federal Government and improve their ability to negotiate for infrastructure and other development projects.

“We need to vote for him in order to sit with the government at the centre and negotiate for the development of the South-East and Anambra State,” Soludo said, reiterating his target of delivering at least half of the state’s votes to the president.

The target represents a significant change from Tinubu’s performance in Anambra during the 2023 presidential election. According to the published election results, Tinubu received 5,111 votes, representing approximately 0.83 percent of the votes recorded in the state. Labour Party candidate Peter Obi, who is from Anambra, won overwhelmingly with 584,621 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar received 9,036 votes. APGA’s presidential candidate in that election, Peter Umeadi, secured 7,388 votes.

The figures illustrate the scale of the political mobilisation Soludo is proposing ahead of 2027. Moving from 5,111 votes to a target of 50 percent would require a substantial increase in support for Tinubu in a state where Obi recorded more than 95 percent of the votes in 2023. Soludo did not provide a detailed mobilisation plan or explain how APGA intends to persuade voters who supported Obi and other candidates in the previous election to support Tinubu in the next contest.

The governor’s declaration also places APGA in an unusual position as it prepares to contest elections at different levels. While the party is endorsing an APC candidate for president, it intends to field its own candidates for the National Assembly and Anambra State House of Assembly elections. The arrangement allows APGA to maintain its political identity and compete for legislative representation while aligning with the ruling party at the presidential level.

At Friday’s campaign launch, Soludo unveiled more than 253 APGA candidates contesting elective positions across the country and presented party flags to 44 candidates representing constituencies in Anambra State. The group includes three senatorial candidates, 11 candidates for the House of Representatives and 30 candidates for the Anambra State House of Assembly.

The APGA National Chairman, Sly Ezeokenwa, also addressed the gathering, expressing confidence in the party and urging candidates to take its manifesto to communities, wards and voting districts. He called on party members to intensify their grassroots campaigns, while reaffirming APGA’s political presence in Anambra. The flag presentation marked the formal commencement of the party’s campaign activities ahead of the 2027 elections.

The endorsement did not emerge without prior indications of cooperation between APGA and the APC. On November 1, the two parties held a joint stakeholders’ meeting in Awka in support of Tinubu’s re-election campaign. Soludo attended the meeting and was identified as the Anambra State coordinator of the president’s re-election council. The gathering brought together political stakeholders from both parties, alongside members of other political groups, to discuss support for Tinubu ahead of the presidential election.

At that meeting, Soludo argued that closer cooperation with the Federal Government could help Anambra secure more attention for development priorities, including road construction and erosion-control projects. The state has long faced serious erosion challenges, with communities and infrastructure exposed to damage from gully erosion and flooding. Federal intervention and funding have been important components of efforts to address some of these problems, making infrastructure development a central issue in the governor’s argument for political engagement with the administration in Abuja.

APGA’s decision to support Tinubu also follows statements by the party’s national leadership earlier in 2026 indicating that it was prepared to maintain a political understanding with the APC. The party’s position has been presented as consistent with previous arrangements in which APGA supported the presidential candidate of the party controlling the Federal Government. Soludo’s announcement at the campaign launch has now turned that position into an explicit commitment for the 2027 presidential contest.

The governor’s argument is that supporting the president could give Anambra and the South-East a stronger platform for negotiations with the Federal Government. However, the endorsement also raises questions about how APGA will manage its relationship with voters who may prefer a different presidential candidate, particularly in a state where the Labour Party recorded an overwhelming victory in 2023. The political influence of party leaders does not automatically translate into the voting decisions of individual residents, and the eventual outcome will depend on voter preferences and the campaigns conducted by all participating parties.

The arrangement also separates APGA’s presidential position from its legislative ambitions. The party is asking its supporters to vote for Tinubu at the national level while retaining APGA candidates for state and federal legislative positions. This means the party’s campaign will have to explain why it is seeking votes for an APC presidential candidate while asking voters to maintain their support for APGA in other contests.

For Tinubu, the endorsement provides an organised political platform in Anambra and the public backing of the state governor, who is also APGA’s national leader. It gives the president’s re-election campaign a formal relationship with the governing party in the state, although the extent to which that relationship will influence the electorate remains to be seen. The president’s previous performance in Anambra provides a clear reference point against which the campaign’s progress can eventually be assessed.

Soludo’s 50 percent target remains a political pledge rather than a prediction supported by published polling or an independently verified assessment of voter intentions. The governor has outlined his reasons for backing Tinubu and called on residents to support the president, but the final decision rests with voters when they cast their ballots. The 2027 campaign will test whether APGA’s organisational strength and its relationship with the state government can translate into a significant change in the presidential voting pattern recorded in Anambra in 2023.

The immediate task for APGA is to mobilise its members, communicate the terms of the arrangement and campaign for its 44 Anambra legislative candidates alongside its wider national slate. The party has formally adopted Tinubu as its preferred presidential candidate, while Soludo has placed a specific numerical target on the commitment. Whether the party can achieve that target will become clearer as the campaigns develop and voters respond to the competing political messages ahead of the 2027 general election.