The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, formally inaugurated the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC)/Rainbow Coalition Presidential Campaign Council on Thursday, November 12, 2026, charging its over 700 members to recruit at least five new voters daily to secure three million votes for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 general election.
​The inauguration ceremony, which commenced at 12:00 noon (with members seated by 11:30 a.m.) at the Aztec Arcum in Port Harcourt, comes just five days after President Tinubu held a mega-rally at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium on Saturday, November 7, 2026.
​Addressing the council members in his capacity as the Rivers State Coordinator of the Tinubu Campaign Council and National Leader of the Rainbow Coalition, Wike directed them to abandon conventional, rally-style campaigning in favour of aggressive, door-to-door grassroots engagement.
​”We are going to depart from that ceremonial campaign style of converging in one place and saying we are holding a rally,” Wike stated. “Rather, we are going to go out to communities, family meetings, age-grade meetings, and markets to talk to the people vigorously. Tell them why Tinubu should be re-elected.”
​To achieve the ambitious three-million-vote target, a benchmark Wike noted emerged from discussions with Senate President Godswill Akpabio regarding Rivers State’s over three million registered voters, the former governor handed down a strict daily quota.
​”You must be found working. Take it as a duty: every day, I will get at least five voters who will vote for Tinubu and members of the National Assembly,” Wike ordered. “If you multiply the number of people you win daily by the members of this council and the subcommittees, that is how we will hit the target.”
​Wike also announced that local government area (LGA) campaign councils across all 23 LGAs would be inaugurated within one week, with subcommittee chairpersons and member lists finalized by Monday, November 16, 2026, to accommodate supporters not included in the central council.
​Speaking at the event, Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who serves as Alternate Coordinator of the council, affirmed his total commitment to the re-election project, noting that former political adversaries in the state had closed ranks to work together.
​”Nothing is impossible. The only thing that is not possible is to revive the dead,” Fubara said. “If we take this as a serious task that must be achieved, we will come out decisively with a stronger vote than what we did in 2023.”
​The governor issued a stern warning against political sabotage and double-dealing among council members. “I am here, and I say it boldly anywhere, any day, in private and in secret: I have taken this position,” Fubara declared, echoing Wike’s assurance that omitted loyalists would be integrated into the subcommittees.
​Earlier in his remarks, the Director of Administration for the campaign council, Ambassador Desmond Akawor, assured stakeholders that the coalition’s mobilisation machinery was fully charged to comb every ward and community. Akawor confirmed that the council’s foot soldiers were primed to cover all 6,866 polling units across Rivers State to deliver on the elders’ commitment of three million votes for President Tinubu.
​The newly inaugurated structure is chaired by Alabo Ferdinand Alabraba (Chairman of the Rivers State Elders Council), with House of Representatives Minority Leader Rt. Hon. Kingsley Chinda serving as Secretary of the council. Other prominent political figures and stakeholders inducted into the council include Chief O.C.J. Okocha (SAN), Rt. Hon. Chibudom Nwuche, and Chief Emma Anyanwu.
