By Larry Kabir
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Umar Dauda Duhu, has urged the leadership of the party to integrate former members of its National Working Committee (NWC) into the proposed Presidential Campaign Council for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.
Duhu made the call in a memorandum dated September 1, 2026, addressed to the APC National Chairman through the National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru.
In the memorandum titled, “Formal Request for the Inclusion of Former Members of the National Working Committee in the APC Presidential Campaign Council and for a Stakeholders’ Reassurance Meeting,” the APC chieftain said former national officers possessed the political experience, institutional knowledge and grassroots networks required to strengthen the party’s campaign machinery.
He expressed concern over what he described as the apparent exclusion of several former NWC members from the emerging campaign structure despite their continued membership and contributions to the development of the party.
Duhu warned that sidelining the former national officers could create avoidable gaps in the APC’s mobilisation efforts and deny the campaign council access to experienced politicians with extensive networks across the country.
He argued that the party’s commitment to internal democracy, inclusiveness and recognition of members’ contributions, as provided under Article 7 of the APC 2022 Constitution, as amended, should inform the composition of the Presidential Campaign Council.
According to him, former NWC members have, over the years, built political structures and maintained direct relationships with party members at the grassroots, making their participation crucial to effective mobilisation ahead of the 2027 elections.
“Party politics is, by its very nature, a contact and mobilisation enterprise that is better and more rigorously handled by career politicians who have direct lines to the base,” Duhu stated.
He also cautioned the APC leadership against allowing political appointees to dominate the proposed campaign structure without adequate integration of established party leaders and grassroots stakeholders.
Duhu said excessive reliance on political appointees could weaken grassroots mobilisation, deepen discontent among long-serving party members and create perceptions of exclusion within the ruling party.
He identified possible consequences of excluding experienced party leaders as the alienation of critical stakeholders, weakening of grassroots structures, voter apathy in strategic states and geopolitical zones, and perceptions of internal division that could be exploited by opposition parties.
Beyond the composition of the campaign council, the APC chieftain called on the National Chairman to convene a closed-door stakeholders’ meeting with former members of the NWC.
He proposed that the meeting should bring together former national officers who served the party from the era of Chief Bisi Akande to members of the present NWC.
According to him, such an engagement would provide an avenue for the party leadership to reassure former national officers and other critical stakeholders of its commitment to inclusiveness and collective participation in the 2027 electoral process.
“The National Chairman should, as a matter of urgency, convene and personally invite all former members of the National Working Committee, from Chief Bisi Akande to the present NWC, to a persuasive closed-door meeting,” the memorandum stated.
Duhu said the proposed engagement would enable the leadership to harmonise interests, address concerns and strengthen cohesion within the APC as preparations for the 2027 general elections intensify.
He further urged the NWC to review the composition of the Presidential Campaign Council to achieve a balance among political appointees, serving party officials, former national officers and other critical stakeholders.
He also called for former NWC members to be co-opted into the campaign council in capacities deemed appropriate by the party leadership.
Duhu maintained that deploying the political experience, institutional memory and extensive grassroots networks of former national officers would enhance the APC’s mobilisation from the national level to states, local government areas, wards and polling units.
He stressed that the party must carry all critical stakeholders along and deploy its pool of experienced politicians if it hopes to present a united and formidable political structure for President Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign.
According to him, an inclusive campaign structure would not only strengthen the President’s re-election bid but also reinforce unity, confidence and commitment among APC members across the country.
