Wike Inaugurates Rivers Tinubu Campaign Council, Targets Three Million Votes

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has inaugurated the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC)/Rainbow Coalition Presidential Campaign Council, setting a target of three million votes for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general election.

Wike, who coordinates the Tinubu Campaign Council and leads the Rainbow Coalition, gave the charge during the inauguration of the over 700-member council in Port Harcourt.

He urged members to move away from traditional campaign rallies and focus on direct engagement with residents through door-to-door visits, family meetings, community gatherings, age-grade associations and markets.

The former Rivers State governor also directed every council member to convince at least five voters daily to support Tinubu and candidates of the party contesting National Assembly seats.

He said the three-million-vote target could be achieved if members consistently met their daily mobilisation responsibilities.

Wike announced that campaign councils would be inaugurated across the state’s local government areas within seven days. He added that the lists of subcommittee chairmen and members would be completed by Monday.

Addressing concerns among party supporters who were left out of the central campaign council, he assured them that more people would be accommodated through the subcommittees.

He also defended the Rainbow Coalition, which brings together members of the APC, Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party, describing the arrangement as a strategy for pooling support across political affiliations.

Wike urged campaign officials to concentrate on promoting the Tinubu administration’s achievements in Rivers State and avoid being distracted by opposition criticism.

Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who attended the event, pledged his support for the coalition, describing the newly inaugurated structure as broader and better organised than the campaign arrangement that worked for Tinubu in 2023.

Fubara said former political opponents had put aside their differences to work towards the same objective. He expressed confidence that the coalition could secure more votes for Tinubu in 2027 than it did in the previous presidential election.

The governor, however, warned members against pretending to support the campaign while working against it privately. He urged them to demonstrate genuine commitment to the assignment.

Earlier, the campaign council’s Director of Administration, Ambassador Desmond Akawor, said its members would mobilise voters across all 6,866 polling units in Rivers State.

Akawor also said the state’s political leaders had committed themselves to the three-million-vote target, adding that campaign teams were preparing to reach communities throughout the state.