The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has backed comments by the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, that President Bola Tinubu has done his best to address Nigeria’s security challenges, but argued that the President should now “go home and rest.”

Obi made the remarks during an interview with Chude Jideonwo uploaded on YouTube on Thursday while explaining why Nigerians should support his presidential ambition ahead of the 2027 election.

Responding to Adeboye’s recent comments on Tinubu’s handling of insecurity, Obi said the respected cleric’s assessment was accurate.

“Somebody asked me yesterday, they said that Pastor Adeboye said Tinubu has tried his best and he’s not happy. And I said, no, Pastor Adeboye remains a very revered, respected religious father, whom I believe in his genuineness and goodness.

“And what he said was correct. He said he has tried his best. He’s trying his best. That’s it. It’s the correct answer. The question to ask is: Is his best good enough? Where we find ourselves today, that leads to the issue of capacity.”

Obi maintained that Nigeria’s leadership challenge goes beyond effort, insisting that the country requires leaders with the competence and capacity to tackle its pressing problems.

“When I talk about leadership, I say competence, capacity, compassion, commitment, character. These are the issues. President Tinubu is tired. He needs to go home and rest,” he said.

The former Anambra State governor also urged Nigerians to assess his past record alongside his current policy proposals when deciding who should lead the country.

“It’s for you to look at my past and look at what I’m saying now,” he said.

Adeboye had recently defended Tinubu against criticism over worsening insecurity, arguing that the President had fulfilled his responsibility by issuing directives to the military rather than personally participating in operations.

The cleric, however, also expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation and urged the government to intensify efforts to tackle terrorism, kidnapping and their sponsors.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nasarawa State has dismissed reports that it plans to replace any of its candidates who emerged from the party’s recent primaries ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The party’s state chairman, Dr. Aliyu Bello, made this known on Saturday in Lafia while distributing Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Forms EC9 and EC13E to the party’s 24 House of Assembly candidates.

Bello described the reports of candidate substitution as false and challenged anyone making the claim to provide evidence.

“No candidate has been replaced, and nobody is planning to replace anyone. If anyone says he has been substituted, let him provide evidence. What is being circulated is mere speculation,” he said.

He explained that the forms were issued only to candidates whose names were submitted by the APC National Secretariat, adding that the same names would be uploaded to the INEC portal.

“You cannot substitute anybody because we are distributing the forms based on the names sent to us by the APC National Secretariat, and those are the names that will be uploaded,” Bello added.

The APC chairman also said the party was working closely with INEC to ensure compliance with the timetable for the 2027 elections.

According to him, INEC forwarded Forms EC9 and EC13E to the APC National Headquarters for distribution to all successful candidates.

Speaking on the party’s chances in the 2027 elections, Bello expressed confidence that the APC would emerge victorious.

“By the grace of God, we will continue to work hard for victory in the 2027 elections. Our party has recorded successes in off-cycle and by-elections across the country, and we are confident of another victory. We are also putting in place a reconciliation committee to engage aggrieved members and strengthen the unity of the party.

“Leadership comes from God. It is God who makes leaders, not Aliyu Bello, not Governor Abdullahi Sule, and not even the APC,” he said.

….We’re not afraid, Tinubu going in with 12m bloc votes – APC

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, has declared that the party is not threatened by opposition propaganda ahead of the 2027 general election, saying President Bola Tinubu is going into the race with a bloc of over 12 million votes from party members.

Yilwatda spoke on Friday while receiving the duly completed Independent National Electoral Commission INEC presidential nomination forms of President Tinubu, and Vice President Kashim Shettima, at a ceremony in Abuja.

INEC has set Saturday, July 11, 2026, as the deadline for political parties to upload the names of their candidates to its nomination portal.

The submission of both forms effectively ended months of speculation about the president’s choice of running mate, as he has now settled for Shettima.

It also paved the way for the upload of Tinubu and Shettima unto the INEC portal, an action concluded on Friday night, beating the INEC deadline.

The nomination forms were presented on behalf of President Tinubu by his Special Adviser on Political and Other Matters, Hon. Ibrahim Masari. The ceremony was attended by APC governors led by the Chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum and Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma, some governors, deputy governors, members of the National Working Committee, the APC Caucus in the National Assembly, members of the Federal Executive Council, senate and governorship candidates, and other party leaders and stakeholders.

Speaking at the event, Yilwatda said the occasion climaxed a process that began with primary elections across all levels of government, from the House of Assembly to the National Assembly to governorship and the presidential primary. “Today is a reflection of the wishes of over 12 million of our members of APC who overwhelmingly voted Mr President as their candidate to flag off the party candidature in the 2027 presidential election,” he said.

He added that beneficiaries of the administration’s programmes, including over 1.5 million students on the student loan scheme and their families, as well as communities benefiting from new road networks across the six geopolitical zones and fertiliser support to farmers in states such as Borno and Niger, would swell the ranks of those voting for the president.

Yilwatda urged governors and supporters to mobilise and publicise the administration’s achievements, saying his own people have fact-checked claims of government projects during a visit to his community and found them accurate.

He charged Masari to convey to President Tinubu that party members would vote massively for him in the election, expressing confidence that the APC would post its highest-ever votes across the geopolitical zones.

“We are not afraid, we are not in doubt of our success, there is no shaking at all in any way, that come 2027 our victory as a party is assured and assured,” Yilwatda said.