Special Adviser on Policy Communication to President Bola Tinubu, Daniel Bwala, has expressed strong confidence that the president will witness a dramatic rise in electoral support from Nigeria’s South-East region in the 2027 presidential election.

 

Speaking on Wednesday night during an appearance on Channels Television’s current affairs programme, Bwala forecasted that President Tinubu could secure as many as two million votes from the region, a staggering increase compared to the 127,370 votes recorded in the 2023 polls. According to him, this would amount to at least four to six times more votes than the president received in the last election.

 

“This is going to be like, I don’t know how to describe it, but let me take you zone by zone,” Bwala said. “You see the South-East, I guarantee you, President Bola Tinubu is going to get more than four times, if not six times, the value of the vote he got. He’ll get up to two million.”

 

When asked how this surge in votes would be possible if Labour Party candidate Peter Obi contests again in 2027, Bwala argued that Obi’s political influence had diminished significantly since the last election. He claimed that the South-East, with its large voting population, still had “lots of votes” to offer, but that Obi’s popularity was no longer at its peak.

 

“As I tell you, he’s not going to get a ticket in any of the parties, whether ADC, PDP, or LP. The problem now is that he might not even get the vice presidential ticket from the way things are going,” Bwala asserted. “Whether Peter Obi is a ticket bearer of the party or not, he has lost more than 50% of his votes because they were not votes built on agenda and politics. They were built on rhetoric and division, and Nigerian people’s eyes are open.”

 

Bwala further suggested that Obi might end up as the Director-General of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) campaign in a coalition-backed arrangement, rather than as a presidential flagbearer.

 

According to him, recent political developments, such as the defection of some southern governors to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and endorsements from governors in opposition parties, would further bolster President Tinubu’s popularity and electoral chances in the South-East.

 

With less than two years until the next presidential election, Bwala’s prediction signals the APC’s growing confidence in expanding its reach in regions where it previously struggled to gain substantial voter support.