Senate President Godswill Akpabio declared that President Bola Tinubu faces no serious challenger in the South-South ahead of the 2027 presidential election, describing the region as a growing stronghold for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking at an APC campaign rally at Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, Edo State, Akpabio said the President’s infrastructure agenda, security measures and political gains had cemented support across the oil-producing region.
“President Bola Tinubu has no competition, no competitor equally in the whole of the South-South,” he told supporters, citing the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway as a project long discussed but realized under the current administration.
He said the route had been extended by 100 kilometers to cover Edo State.
Akpabio described Edo as the historic birthplace of the APC’s presence in the South-South and said every state in the zone was now governed by the party.
He urged voters to deliver an overwhelming result for Tinubu on January 16, 2027.
“We will vote massively for the President,” he said, adding that the South-South intended to outperform other regions at the polls.
His remarks came as senior APC figures, including Vice President Kashim Shettima, campaigned in Edo ahead of the 2027 election.
Akpabio said Shettima had described the state’s contest as effectively settled.
The Senate President pointed to new security deployments in Edo, including a Mobile Police squadron, the recruitment of more than 500 forest guards and plans for state policing, as evidence of the federal government’s response to safety concerns.
He also cited a new army division in the state, university expansions and construction activity, including new flyovers, as reasons voters should back the president’s re-election bid.
