Port Harcourt stood still on Saturday, November 7, 2026 as President Bola Tinubu stormed the Garden City for the much-anticipated APC Rainbow Coalition presidential rally, turning the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium into a sea of brooms, banners and chanting supporters.
The President touched down in Rivers State straight from Uyo, where he had spent two days commissioning projects executed by Governor Umo Eno, including the Victor Attah International Airport, and leading the APC rally in Akwa Ibom. His arrival in Port Harcourt marked his third major campaign outing since the ruling party flagged off its re-election campaign in Kaduna last month, and his first visit to Rivers State since assuming office in May 2023.
From the early hours of the morning, Port Harcourt was already agog. Over 80 campaign buses, representing APC and PDP structures across the 23 local government areas of the state, snaked through major streets of the city in a colourful roadshow, while thousands of supporters in party colours danced, sang and drummed their way to the stadium. The rally, put together by the APC Rainbow Coalition under the leadership of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, was billed as a show of force for Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima’s 2027 re-election bid.
Wike, who had inspected the stadium on Friday, had promised a crowd of over 70,000, and by midday the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium, chosen for its larger capacity over the Yakubu Gowon Stadium, was already filled to the brim with supporters drawn from the APC, PDP and APGA. The former Rivers governor, who has remained a PDP member but has thrown his full political weight behind Tinubu, was on ground early to receive the President alongside other APC leaders.
Tinubu arrived to a thunderous welcome, waving to the crowd as chants of “Tinubu Must Go Again” rent the air, a slogan that has now become the anthem of his supporters across the South-South. The rally is the kick-off of the APC’s South-South campaign train, which will move to Benin City on November 12, Yenagoa on November 15, Uyo on November 18, and Asaba on December 12.
In Uyo on Friday, Tinubu had charged Akwa Ibom to deliver two million votes for the APC in 2027 and urged young Nigerians to get their Permanent Voter Cards, a message he is expected to echo in Port Harcourt as he seeks to consolidate his grip on the South-South.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio had assured him of Akwa Ibom’s support, while in Rivers, Wike has vowed to deliver the state for the President.
As the drums rolled and the crowd roared in Port Harcourt, one message was clear: the battle for 2027 has fully begun, and Tinubu is not leaving anything to chance.
