By Annette Ikponmwonba | October 19, 2026
Key Points
· APC Presidential Campaign Council spokesperson Dele Alake says Tinubu made a strategic choice to physically campaign in only 12 states ahead of 2027
· Alake spoke in an interview with NTA
· He said the President chose not to abandon governance for campaigning
· Alake argued the selected states are “election deciders” and that the President should be commended
· He said the limit is about balancing governance and politics, not about stamina or capacity
· He noted that Tinubu was not a sitting president in 2023, so he could visit every corner of the country then
Main Story
Dele Alake, spokesperson for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, has said President Bola Tinubu made a strategic decision to physically campaign in only 12 states ahead of the 2027 elections. Speaking in an interview with NTA, Alake said the President chose not to abandon governance for campaigning.
He argued that restricting the number of states is not about stamina or capacity, but about balancing governance and politics. He said the President made it clear at the inauguration of the campaign council a few days ago that he would not abandon governance for campaigning, and that some sections of the media had still chosen to report the decision in a negative light, Alake contrasted the 2027 approach with 2023. “Asiwaju was not a sitting president in 2023, so he could afford the time to go to every corner of the nation, but when you are a sitting president with so much work to do, no, you cannot,” he said.
The Issues
The decision touches on a familiar tension for sitting leaders: how to run a national campaign while carrying the responsibilities of office. By limiting physical campaign stops, the administration is trying to present the President as focused on governance rather than electioneering.
It also invites questions from critics and opposition parties about whether a reduced campaign footprint signals weakness or overconfidence. Alake pushed back on any link to stamina, praising the President’s resilience and saying his stamina is unparalleled, The strategy rests on the claim that the chosen states are decisive. Alake said an empirical verification of the zones and states would show they are election deciders, but no data was offered in the report, so the claim remains his assertion.
What’s Being Said
Alake described the President’s workload with sympathy and admiration. “The President has a lot on his plate; honestly, I sympathise with him most times when I’m with him, the weight, the enormity. And I admire him a lot because of his resilience; his stamina is unparalleled,” he said.
On the choice of states, he said: “He has chosen some zonal pivotal states to visit. And if you are to do a serious empirical verification of those zones and states, you will find out that those places he’s chosen to go are actually election deciders. So there is no issue there at all, he should be commended for that.”
What’s Next
Attention will turn to which 12 states make the list and how the campaign schedule unfolds as the election approaches. Opposition candidates, who are expected to campaign more widely, may use the contrast in their messaging, The campaign council is also likely to rely on surrogates, rallies and media outreach to cover states the President will not visit in person.
Bottom Line
The APC campaign is framing Tinubu’s 12-state plan as a deliberate choice to put governance first and focus on pivotal states, but whether the strategy wins over voters or becomes an opposition talking point will only become clear as the campaign gathers pace.
