Political leaders from Nigeria’s North Central region, led by Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume, launched a grassroots mobilization movement on Friday aimed at delivering the zone’s highest-ever vote total for President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima in the 2027 election.
The North Central Grassroots Mobilisation Movement for Tinubu/Shettima 2027 held its inaugural meeting at Akume’s office in Abuja, according to a statement from the group’s national coordinator, Sonny Echono. Akume said the initiative’s principal objective is to build broad support and drive high voter turnout for Tinubu across the region, and credited Echono with bringing the stakeholders together.
Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule, who also chairs the North Central Governors Forum, described the movement as timely and expressed confidence the zone would deliver a strong result for Tinubu and other All Progressives Congress candidates. Sule pointed to improving fiscal capacity across North Central states, which he attributed to the administration’s economic reforms, noting that some states are now executing projects without borrowing. Echono said the movement would coordinate political leaders and grassroots stakeholders across the six North Central states and the Federal Capital Territory, framing the zone’s ambition not as whether it would back Tinubu but as delivering the highest number of votes of any region in 2027.
The launch builds on an earlier endorsement in March, when Akume led North Central APC delegates in Lafia, Nasarawa State, to formally adopt Tinubu as the party’s sole presidential candidate for 2027, a motion seconded by Sule. At that gathering, Akume described the North Central as the “glue” binding Nigeria’s diverse ethnic nationalities and cited improving economic indicators from the Central Bank of Nigeria in making the case for the administration’s record.
The movement forms part of a broader pattern of regional endorsements for Tinubu’s re-election bid as the 2027 race takes shape, with the North Central joining other zones in signaling early support for the president’s campaign.
