2027: Tinubu Will Secure 30% Votes in South East

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

A former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha has predicted that President Bola Tinubu would secure between 25 and 30 per cent of the votes in the South-East in the January 16 2027 presidential election.

He lamented that the South-East gave Tinubu only about five per cent of its votes in the 2023 presidential election, but expressed confidence that the outcome would improve in 2027 with his involvement and that of other political leaders.

Okorocha gave the assurance after he was decorated as the National Grand Patron of Grassroots Advocacy for Tinubu 2027 in Abuja on Tuesday.

He described the region’s support for Tinubu as a “strategic alliance” aimed at securing political support for an Igbo presidential candidate in the future.

Okorocha said the decision to support Tinubu did not amount to a rejection of any South-East candidate in the 2027 race, but was based on what he described as a long-term political consideration.

He stated: “In the last election, we did not perform well in the South-East. The leadership of our state gave Tinubu only five per cent of the votes. That will no longer be the case with some of us coming on board.

“Tinubu will be assured of crossing the 25 to 30 per cent mark in the region, bearing in mind that one of our illustrious sons, a great man, is also in the contest.

“Our support for Tinubu is not a rejection of our own. It simply means that we are looking beyond the immediate situation and considering the future rather than today. That is what I call the strategic alliance strategy,” he said.

The former lawmaker urged northerners to reciprocate Tinubu’s past support for the late President Muhammadu Buhari by backing his re-election bid.

He recalled Tinubu’s support for Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the 2015 presidential election, saying Tinubu set aside his ambition to back the late former President and remained loyal to him even during his illness.

The former governor argued that northerners should reciprocate the gesture by supporting Tinubu in 2027.

He noted: “In the northern part of the country, particularly the North-West, Tinubu stood by their son, President Muhammadu Buhari. Comparatively, Tinubu was in a position to pursue his own presidential ambition at the time, but he subordinated that ambition to support another candidate, Muhammadu Buhari. He supported him with his political structure, and Buhari eventually emerged as President.”

Also, the National Coordinator of the group, Prof. Ochugudu Ipuele said Okorocha was brought on board because of his grassroots reach and political influence.

He said the group had established a field-reporting mechanism through which members at polling-unit level could contact the national secretariat directly, lodge complaints and submit reports on their activities.

Ipuele claimed that the platform had more than 7,062,353 members across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with structures at local government and polling-unit levels.

“If we are actually concerned about grassroots, the real grassrooter that has built capacity and has very high political capital that at this time can translate to massive votes for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is Senator Rochas Okorocha,” Ipuele said.