Vice President Kashim Shettima on Thursday formally submitted the presidential nomination and expression of interest forms of President Bola Tinubu, officially entering the incumbent into the 2027 presidential primary race of the All Progressives Congress.
The forms were submitted at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja on the final day scheduled by the APC for the submission of nomination documents by aspirants seeking elective offices under the party’s platform.
Unlike other aspirants who submitted their forms at a designated hotel, the APC reserved the conference centre exclusively for Tinubu’s submission, underscoring the significance attached to the president’s re-election bid.
The development came barely 24 hours after the party’s National Working Committee, during its 188th meeting, waived screening requirements for Tinubu, automatically clearing him to participate in the party’s presidential primary without appearing before any screening panel.
The APC leadership argued that subjecting the president to another screening process would be unnecessary, citing his previous clearance ahead of the 2022 presidential primaries and his endorsement by key organs of the party, including the Progressive Governors Forum and the National Assembly leadership during the APC National Summit held on May 22, 2025.
Speaking during the submission ceremony, Shettima described the exercise as a reaffirmation of confidence in Tinubu’s leadership and his handling of Nigeria’s economic and political challenges.
“The President has delivered on the mandate of stability and national revival. The storms of the past years have not diminished him. They have made a party hero out of him,” Shettima said.
The vice president recalled that Nigeria’s foreign reserves stood at about $33.99 billion when Tinubu assumed office, describing the situation as insufficient to sustain fuel imports for one month at the time.
According to him, rather than evade responsibility, the president took difficult economic decisions aimed at stabilising the country’s finances and restoring investor confidence.
“We have crossed the river. We are out of the dark tunnel. Nigeria is on a path to recovery and growth,” he stated while urging Nigerians to support Tinubu’s second-term bid regardless of political, religious or ethnic differences.
Also speaking at the event, APC National Chairman, Nentawe Yilwatda, described the occasion as a continuation of the party’s agenda on economic reforms, infrastructure expansion and national development.
Yilwatda noted that the party’s National Executive Committee had already unanimously endorsed Tinubu for a second term during its previous meeting, stressing that members of the party leadership remained committed to that decision.
“All of us seated here who are members of NEC are bound by the decision we made last year as a commitment to Mr President,” he said.
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The APC chairman defended the Tinubu administration’s economic and infrastructure policies, highlighting projects such as the Lagos-Kano-Maradi railway corridor, the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline, ongoing port modernisation efforts, and the proposed 1,000-kilometre Badagry-Sokoto highway corridor.
According to him, the railway and dry port projects would position Nigeria as a commercial gateway for neighbouring landlocked countries including Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso, while the highway corridor would support agricultural production through irrigation development.
Meanwhile, governors elected under the APC platform also declared support for a consensus arrangement that would return Tinubu as the party’s sole presidential candidate for the 2027 election.
Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum and Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, announced the position on behalf of the 31 APC governors during the event.
Uzodimma said the governors remained united behind the president and were prepared to campaign on the achievements of his administration ahead of the election.
According to him, the endorsement was a continuation of the position earlier adopted by APC governors during the party’s political summit last year, where Tinubu was encouraged to seek re-election.