In a significant regional political realignment, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo has officially launched a coalition for Tinubu’s 2027 re-election. The inauguration event, held at the International Convention Centre in Awka, marks a strategic effort to consolidate support for Bola Ahmed Tinubu across the South-East zone.
Prof. Soludo accepted an appointment to serve as the Anambra State Coordinator for the revised Presidential Campaign Council, although he remains the national leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.
Rather than relying on a conventional single-party campaign, Prof. Soludo successfully mobilised an expansive 4,600-member coalition for Tinubu’s 2027 re-election.
This unprecedented arrangement bridges traditionally hostile political divides by bringing together high-profile stakeholders, party executives, and lawmakers from the All Progressives Grand Alliance, the All Progressives Congress, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the Accord Party. Under this structural agreement, the participating political platforms will maintain their independent identities and field separate candidates for local legislative offices. However, they have formally committed to presenting a unified front regarding the presidency, adopting a strategy to support the incumbent for the highest office while backing their respective platforms for all other positions.
Addressing the massive gathering, Prof. Soludo argued that this regional realignment is rooted in strategic reasoning rather than temporary emotion. He emphasised that the South-East can no longer afford to practise isolated protest politics and must return to the central governance legacy established by regional forebears such as Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr Alex Ekwueme.
Outlining the strategic rationale, he noted that massive regional infrastructure, including railways, major roads, and gas pipelines, cannot be funded by state allocations alone and requires an absolute partnership with the federal government. Prof. Soludo highlighted that despite the incumbent receiving just over 5,000 votes in Anambra during the 2023 cycle, the central administration has heavily supported the state through critical projects like the Enugu-Onitsha road construction and the Second Niger Bridge bypasses.
Prof. Soludo also presented a long-term geopolitical calculation based on a 2039 power rotation blueprint. He stated that once the South completes its current second term, power will naturally rotate to the North before returning to the South around 2039, arguing that backing the current administration builds the necessary cross-regional goodwill for the South-East to successfully claim the presidency in the future. Despite the high-level camaraderie displayed by party leaders, including Sylvester Ezeokenwa and Emmanuel Anosike, the coalition for Tinubu’s 2027 re-election faces steep internal resistance.
Over the weekend, a parallel support group in the South-East led by Paul Chukwuma and supported by Benjamin Kalu held a separate rally in Awka explicitly rejecting the multi-party alliance.
The faction labelled the cooperative mantra a deceptive slogan, insisting instead on a strict top-to-bottom strategy. They argued that local alliances will weaken the capacity of the ruling party to win governorship and legislative seats within Anambra State. Notwithstanding this friction, the newly inaugurated campaign council has been directed to initiate immediate grassroots mobilisation across the 21 local government areas of the state, setting an ambitious target to secure over 80 per cent of the presidential votes for the incumbent administration.