2027 Inside Jigawa: APC One-Million-Man March For Tinubu/Danmodi Reelection

Recently, the ancient city of Hadejia, long a crossroads of commerce and culture in Nigeria’s northwest, became the stage for a remarkable political statement as thousands of supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) poured onto its streets for what organisers described as a “one-million-man march” in support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Malam Umar Namadi’s re-election.

The rally, held under the banner of the Danmodi Visuals Political Network, was more than a routine show of political strength. It was a calculated demonstration of the APC’s organisational depth in Jigawa State and a clear signal that the ruling party intends to make the state a cornerstone of its 2027 re-election strategy.

The streets of Hadejia thronged with APC faithful, many draped in the party’s broom insignia, waving flags and carrying posters bearing the portraits of Tinubu and Namadi. According to organisers, the mobilisation was designed to secure more than two million votes for President Tinubu in Jigawa State in the next presidential election.

Speaking at the event, Salihu Atafi, chairman of the movement in the Hadejia Zone, framed the rally as a natural response to what he called tangible progress under the Tinubu administration. He cited advances in security, education, agriculture and economic reforms as reasons for the groundswell of support.

The organisers did not shy away from the more contentious aspects of federal policy. Atafi acknowledged that the removal of the fuel subsidy had imposed hardship on Nigerians but argued that the policy would yield long-term economic benefits. He also commended the Students’ Loan Scheme, describing it as an opportunity for more Nigerian youths to pursue higher education.

At the state level, the rally served as a showcase for Governor Namadi’s first-term record—a strategy that APC mobilisers are clearly banking on to secure a second term.

Atafi pointed to the governor’s 12-point development agenda, with particular emphasis on agriculture, healthcare, education, housing and security. He noted that the state government had procured more than 400 tractors and 60 combine harvesters for distribution across Jigawa, alongside other agricultural equipment.

The administration’s investment in healthcare infrastructure also featured prominently, with the construction and renovation of facilities, 23 inherited road projects, and the award of 43 new road projects, many of which have been completed, while others are at an advanced stage.

The development of an oxygen plant in Dutse and the construction and upgrading of over 250 hospitals, including tertiary, secondary, and primary health facilities, also featured prominently.

On education, the governor’s record appears substantial. The state government spent N8.1 billion on scholarships in the 2025 fiscal year alone, supporting nearly 35,000 students, including more than 230 studying abroad in medical and engineering fields.

The purchase of a private university and its conversion to a state-owned university, renovation and upgrading of schools, and recruitment of over 8,000 teachers are also among the administration’s achievements.

The Danmodi Student Care Initiative has also expanded to include educational materials for 25,000 out-of-school children, bicycles and wheelchairs for students with disabilities, and laptops for cadets at the Nigeria Police Academy and the Nigeria Defence Academy.

The Danmodi Palliative Shops programme, launched in July 2024, has provided civil servants with subsidised access to rice, maize, beans and other staples at shops in all 27 local government areas. The governor has announced plans to extend the scheme to the general public.

The Hadejia rally is not an isolated event. It forms part of a wider APC mobilisation architecture taking shape across Jigawa State ahead of 2027.

The Secretary to the State Government, Malam Bala Ibrahim; the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Honourable Haruna Aliyu Dangyatin, the Chief of Staff, Government House, Dutse, Senator Mustapha Malamawar Kiyawa, and the State Commissioner of Budget and Economic Planning, Hon. Babangida Umar Gantsa, have also commenced tour visits across the Jigawa Southwest Senatorial District to reawaken party members.

The tour, which is also part of the strategy for the 2027 general election, was designed to bring together party leaders from polling units, wards and local governments, along with other stakeholders, for direct engagement with candidates and to work in unison for APC victory.

These leaders have long been known for their political strategy, grassroots mobilisation and vast experience in Jigawa State’s political trajectory. They are expected to provide a platform that enables the zone to produce more votes for the APC than for the others, and to reclaim the senatorial seat currently held by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.

In September, the Danmodi Visuals Political Network formally launched a campaign to mobilise one million votes for Tinubu and Namadi, with Deputy Governor Engr. Aminu Usman is leading the charge in Dutse.

The network pledged to use digital platforms to document and showcase the administration’s achievements across all 27 local government areas.

Earlier, in April, Governor Namadi himself declared the state’s unwavering support for Tinubu’s re-election during an economic empowerment programme in Hadejia organised by Senator Ahmed Abdulhamid Malam Madori. At that event, 11 vehicles, 85 motorcycles, 85 sewing machines and 85 grinding machines were distributed to party stakeholders and constituents.

Senator Malammadori, who represents the Jigawa North-East Senatorial District, has also donated brand-new Toyota Hilux vehicles, buses, and cars for the re-election campaigns of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Jigawa State Governor Malam Umar Namadi.

Governor Namadi also held a strategic meeting with critical APC stakeholders from each of the three senatorial zones. He told journalists that the meeting was directly related to the upcoming 2027 general election.

After a meeting with the Jigawa Northwest Senatorial Zone on Independence Day, Governor Namadi categorically reaffirmed their commitment to delivering Jigawa to President Tinubu.

The APC Chairman, Hon. Maikudi MK, buttressed the governor’s statement, emphasising that they had concluded arrangements and plans to ensure no single seat is won by any opposition party in Jigawa State in the upcoming 2027 general election.

The governor’s wife, Dr Amina Namadi, has also been active in rallying support, receiving approximately 2,000 defectors from the Peoples Democratic Party and other opposition parties into the APC in Dutse. Similar defections were reported in Gumel, where over 2,500 members of the PDP, NNPP and ADC reportedly joined the ruling party.

However, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Students Affairs, Comrade Muhammad Salisu Seeker, organised a 10,000-man march at his Limawa political ward in Dutse Capital.

As with other political rallies, thousands of youths, women, and other party loyalists attended the Limawa Rally, including the state party leader.

The Limawa Rally is also another litmus test of the APC’s strength and preparedness to leave no stone unturned in its quest to achieve a landslide victory in the 2027 general election.

Salisu Seeker, a young, vibrant and emerging politician, has long been seen as one of the APC faces in Dutse Capital, by carrying youths, women and all people along with an expanded dividend of democracy.

His Danmodi Student Care is one of the hallmarks and sterling achievements of the Governor Namadi administration in promoting access to education for all children through scholarships, coaching, guidance and counselling, admission processing, and moral discipline.

According to the convener of the one-million-man march, similar rallies are also underway in Gumel and Dutse, the Capital of the Northwest and Southwest Senatorial Districts.

Jigawa State, with its substantial voting population, has become a key battleground in the APC’s northwest strategy. The region delivered significant margins for Tinubu in 2023, and the party is evidently determined to replicate—and expand—that performance.

For Governor Namadi, the 2027 election represents a referendum on his first term. His administration has staked its reputation on a development agenda that combines agricultural mechanisation, educational investment, healthcare expansion and social protection programmes. The political capital generated by these initiatives is now being converted into electoral mobilisation.

For President Tinubu, Jigawa offers an opportunity to demonstrate that his administration’s reforms, however contentious, have retained political traction in the north. The decision to hold the rally in Hadejia, a historic city with deep political significance in the Jigawa North-East Senatorial District, was likely deliberate.

The matter arising is whether the “one-million-man march” translates into actual votes remains to be seen. But as a statement of organisational capacity and political intent, the strategies adopted left little doubt that the APC in Jigawa is preparing for a fight and intends to frame the 2027 contest as a choice between continuity and uncertainty.