Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Bola Tinubu enters September 2026 with his 2027 re-election apparatus firing on multiple fronts while legal and political attacks multiply from outside.

On the endorsement track, the machinery is widening. PDP Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun publicly pledged to deliver the state's votes to Tinubu, declaring his commitment "100 per cent" in a cross-party alliance brokered through APC National Secretary Ajibola Basiru. The O'odua People's Congress endorsed him for a second term at its 32nd Founders' Day in Lagos, with OPC President Wasiu Afolabi urging the North to reciprocate the backing Tinubu gave Buhari. In Ondo, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa activated the APC Elders Council across all 18 local governments to mobilize grassroots support and warned against factionalism. The BTO Coalition, sponsored by Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, held a rally declaring Tinubu's re-election "non-negotiable" and targeted over one million mobilized votes in Ondo. Pro-Tinubu groups are also working to clear the field: Renewed Hope for Greater Nigeria is engaging Ohanaeze Ndigbo to pressure Peter Obi to withdraw, arguing his candidacy is unviable.

The legal front has intensified. Atiku Abubakar and the African Democratic Congress filed a Federal High Court suit to disqualify Tinubu from the 2027 election, alleging he submitted a forged NYSC discharge certificate under the name "Tinubu Bola Adekunle." The September 1 hearing stalled over service-of-process disputes and was adjourned to September 28. Separately, opposition leaders including Peter Obi and Hakeem Baba-Ahmed are hammering Tinubu over the FBI records dispute, accusing him of using an emergency foreign trip to block release of US drug-trafficking records; Obi called it "profoundly embarrassing" for a sitting president to ask a foreign court to withhold records of legitimate public interest.

On fuel prices, Atiku branded the N1,310-N1,345 per litre pump price an "affordability scandal" and demanded transparency on N34tn in import-duty exemptions and N30tn in Federation Account entries. But Atiku's call for fuel-subsidy reinstatement was rejected by youth and student groups including NANS and the Ijaw Youth Council, who instead urged Tinubu to channel subsidy savings into refinery rehabilitation, a split that indirectly bolsters his anti-subsidy stance. Human rights lawyer Femi Falana is separately pressing the government for transparency on how subsidy-removal revenues are used, demanding a ban on petrol importation and accusing the IMF and World Bank of driving a "colonialist economy."

On governance, Tinubu directed 200bn naira from EFCC-recovered proceeds into social investment, with 100bn to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund and 100bn to the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation, part of a cost-of-living mitigation effort. Forfeited assets were converted into public utilities including a federal university in Kaduna. He addressed the North-Central Security Summit in Makurdi via SGF George Akume, framing conflict as rooted in climate change, land-use disputes, and illicit weapons rather than force alone, and directed Defence Minister Christopher Musa to deliver measurable outcomes while promoting a transition from open grazing to settled livestock production. He deployed Vice President Kashim Shettima to the AU Extraordinary Summit in Luanda to advocate stronger African-led conflict-resolution mechanisms and urge AU action against xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

The presidency is defending the economic reform package as restoring investor confidence, citing FX stability, single-digit loans for MSMEs, and free business formalization under the Renewed Hope Agenda. Officials challenged opposition critics to engage directly with businesses rather than rely on hearsay.

Opposition figures seized on Tinubu's three-week European vacation: the Allied People's Movement demanded disclosure of his health status and urged him to withdraw from the 2027 race, endorsing Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde as a replacement. Peter Obi attacked N37.64bn in presidential travel spending and contrasted it with underfunded health and security sectors. PRP presidential candidate Donald Duke warned the opposition must form a single united front to beat Tinubu, calling him a "formidable" incumbent whose control of institutions skews the race and cautioning that a divided opposition could hand him victory with as little as 25 percent of votes. Former OPC secretary Kayode Ogundamisi offered a blunter warning: Tinubu built a coalition among the political class but failed to build one among the Nigerian people, and accused the administration of using fake agencies to steal funds. Primate Elijah Ayodele cautioned APC that overconfidence and money-driven campaigning will fail unless Tinubu resolves economic hardship and insecurity, saying treating the president as a "demi-god" could trigger a massive rejection at the polls.