President Bola Tinubu has appointed Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, to head the Directorate of Air Mobilisation of the All Progressives Congress, APC, 2027 re-election campaign.

Keyamo would serve as Director of the Directorate of Air Mobilisation, with the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, appointed Deputy Director 1, while Engr Farouk Ahmed Umar would serve as Deputy Director II.

Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister, Tunde Moshood, in a statement, said the appointments underscored the strategic importance of air transportation, operational coordination and aviation logistics to the organisation of a nationwide presidential campaign in a country as geographically extensive as Nigeria.

The statement reads: ‘The Directorate of Air Mobilisation is expected to play a crucial role in coordinating the campaign’s air-movement requirements, facilitating travel arrangements for designated campaign officials and personnel, and ensuring effective planning for air transportation in support of campaign activities across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

“Given the scale of the 2027 presidential campaign, the directorate is expected to work closely with other relevant campaign structures to promote seamless coordination, operational efficiency and effective deployment of available logistical resources, subject to applicable aviation regulations and electoral laws.

“Keyamo’s appointment brings to the campaign structure the experience of a serving aviation minister who has been at the forefront of policy initiatives aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s aviation sector, improving its international standing and positioning the country as a major aviation hub in Africa.

“His familiarity with the operational demands of the aviation industry is expected to provide useful leadership in coordinating the directorate’s activities and establishing an effective framework for air-mobilisation planning.

“The appointment of Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku and Umar as Deputy Directors also brings aviation-sector leadership and technical experience into the directorate, strengthening its capacity to address the planning and coordination demands associated with nationwide campaign movements.”

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has met the Independent National Electoral Commission’s, INEC, October 24 deadline for correcting the names of candidates omitted from its published list, the party’s National Organising Secretary, Captain Umar Bature (rtd), has said.

The affected candidates include governorship hopefuls in Gombe and Ogun states, as well as about seven House of Assembly candidates, whose names were missing from the list released by the electoral commission.

Bature confirmed the development on Sunday ,saying the party had completed the corrections within the stipulated period.

“Yes, we met the deadline since,” he said.

He said the omissions involved candidates contesting governorship elections in the two states and several House of Assembly seats.

The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has set a target of nearly three million votes for President Bola Tinubu and the party’s 2027 governorship candidate, Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, vowing that it would not allow a repeat of its defeat in the state during the 2023 presidential election.

The Director-General of the PBAT-KOH Campaign Council, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, disclosed this on Sunday at a press conference in Ikeja, Lagos, where he also announced plans for the unveiling of Hamzat’s governorship manifesto ahead of the 2027 election.

According to Obanikoro, the party had learnt important lessons from the 2023 election, when the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, defeated Tinubu in Lagos, securing 582,454 votes against the APC candidate’s 572,606 votes.

Describing the outcome as a wake-up call, the former Minister said the APC had since taken steps to strengthen its membership base and improve its mobilisation ahead of the next general election.

“That time (2023), I want to tell you, was a wake-up call for us, and we have woken up,” Obanikoro said.

“You know what it means to wake up a hungry tiger? It’s bad news. That’s exactly what the opposition has done. They have woken up a hungry tiger, and it is going to roar.”

He said the APC had registered about one million members in Lagos, adding that the party expected a substantial proportion of them to turn out and vote during the election.

“For the first time in the history of our party, we registered about one million. Already, we have provided a solution by beefing up our membership,” he said.

Explaining how the party arrived at its projected votes, Obanikoro said: “So, in a worst-case scenario, let’s say 70 or 80 per cent of our members come out, which they will do. That is already 800,000 votes.

“Let’s assume they will bring a minimum of one voter. That is 1.6 million votes. No matter how much some of these opposition members hate us, there are APC lovers in this state of ours who, come rain or shine, will come out and vote for us. Modestly, we are looking at almost three million votes.”

Obanikoro said the campaign council would intensify grassroots mobilisation across the state to achieve the target.

“We will go throughout the length and breadth of Lagos State, all the nooks and crannies of Lagos. We will go there and canvass for votes,” he said.

“We are going to win and record an unprecedented number of votes for both Asiwaju and Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat.”

Meanwhile,the campaign council has also announced that the APC would unveil Hamzat’s manifesto on Friday, October 30, 2026, at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts, formerly the National Arts Theatre, in Iganmu, Lagos.

He said the manifesto would outline the governorship candidate’s vision, priorities and plans for the continued development of Lagos State.