Akpabio: Peace in Rivers Will Guarantee Tinubu’s Victory in South-south

•Says Wike’s performance in FCT, student loans, economic reforms will boost APC’s chances Sunday Aborisade in Abuja President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has expressed confidence that President Bola Tinubu and candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will secure victory across the South-south geopolitical zone in the January 16, 2027 general election. Akpabio attributed his optimism to what he described as the prevailing peace and unity among political leaders and stakeholders in the region, particularly in Rivers State, saying the atmosphere would strengthen the APC’s electoral fortunes. The Senate president, according to a statement by his Media Office on Saturday evening, spoke on Saturday at the Rivers State Rainbow Coalition rally held at the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt, where he urged the people of the South-south to support Tinubu’s re-election bid. Addressing the gathering, Akpabio declared that the prevailing political harmony in Rivers State was the critical ingredient required to deliver the state and the entire region to the APC in 2027. “Mr President, the ingredient needed in this zone, particularly Rivers State, to return you to the Villa on January 16, 2027, is here, and that is peace. “There is total peace in Rivers State, and it is based on that peace and unity among all stakeholders and political leaders on display today from the zone that Mr President would be delivered,” he said. Akpabio recalled that Rivers was the only state in the South-south where the APC secured victory in the 2023 presidential election, insisting that the party could repeat the feat on a larger scale in 2027. He told Tinubu that the state had demonstrated its electoral strength in the last general election, adding that its support for the president would be sustained. “In 2023, this was one state that you won resoundingly. It was not a question of 25 per cent. In the whole of the South-south, it was in Rivers State that President Bola Tinubu won resoundingly,” he stated. The Senate President also urged Rivers residents to reciprocate Tinubu’s political support for the state, particularly through the appointment of former Governor Nyesom Wike as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He commended Wike’s performance in Abuja, describing his appointment as evidence of Tinubu’s ability to recognise and deploy competent individuals to strategic government positions. “President Tinubu loves Rivers people, and that is why he handed a very strategic ministry, the FCT, to your son, and he has not disappointed us. “I want to thank you for producing Nyesom Wike, who is doing wonders in the FCT. We have never seen such a level of development before. Mr President is a man who knows how to put square pegs in square holes,” Akpabio said. He further listed the federal government’s student loan scheme, economic reforms, tax reforms and the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project among the reasons Nigerians should support Tinubu’s administration. According to him, more than 100,000 students from Rivers State have benefited from the student loan scheme and other educational support programmes introduced by the federal government. Akpabio said the initiatives had provided opportunities for students from indigent and disadvantaged backgrounds who might otherwise have been unable to pursue higher education. On the economy, he commended Tinubu for what he described as improvements in the country’s foreign reserves, claiming that the reserves had risen from $4.5 billion to more than $50 billion under the administration. He also defended the government’s tax reforms, arguing that the previous tax system was outdated and required comprehensive restructuring. The Senate pPresident noted that several tax laws dated back to 1939, adding that the administration’s efforts to harmonise the tax system had improved revenue generation. He claimed that Nigeria was now generating more revenue from taxation than from crude oil, describing the development as an indication of the growing importance of non-oil revenue to the economy. Akpabio also defended the removal of the petrol subsidy, arguing that the policy was necessary to eliminate corruption and leakages that had weakened the country’s public finances. He said the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which passes through Rivers State, would stimulate economic and commercial activities along the coastline and create additional opportunities for residents. The Senate President urged people of the South-south to sustain their support for the Tinubu administration, insisting that the federal government was committed to improving the welfare of ordinary Nigerians. “We will continue to campaign despite the fact that we are a very popular party and the government of the day,” he added. Akpabio expressed hope that the rallies held in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states would translate into electoral victories for Tinubu and APC candidates in the 2027 elections. He prayed that the political mobilisation across the region would not be in vain, expressing confidence that the president and the ruling party would celebrate victory on January 16, 2027.