High Chief Wisdom Chukwuma Okoye, Director of International Liaison for the Forward Bola Ahmed Tinubu 2027 Independent Campaign Group, told reporters at the group's Abuja Endorsement Day that Nigeria's political future should be decided by "competence, integrity and commitment to national development" rather than religion or ethnicity.

The remarks matter because they come as the campaign group formally endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term and announced plans to replicate the Abuja event across all six geopolitical zones. Nigeria's 2027 election is widely expected to again test the country's fault lines between its predominantly Muslim north and Christian south. A pro-Tinubu group building infrastructure now, more than a year out, signals an early and organized push for the president's re-election bid.

Okoye, who also holds the traditional title Ozo Amamaife Chukwu I of Isuokoma Kingdom, made his comments on the sidelines of the event. "Our strength as a nation lies in our diversity, not in our differences," he said. He went further, framing his own position as a bridge-builder between faiths. "I remain committed to the peaceful coexistence of Christians and Muslims in Northern Nigeria and across our nation," he said. "We all have a shared responsibility to build bridges of understanding rather than walls of division."

Those lines will be familiar to anyone who has followed Nigerian campaign rhetoric before a national vote. Religion has shaped nearly every presidential contest since the country's return to democracy in 1999, and the 2023 election was no exception. Tinubu, a Muslim from the southwest, ran with a Muslim running mate, Kashim Shettima, a pairing critics said broke with the country's informal practice of religious balance on a presidential ticket. That decision drew criticism from Christian groups at the time, including from the Christian Association of Nigeria. Okoye's remarks appear pitched, at least in part, at soothing that lingering grievance ahead of 2027.

Okoye did not stop at religion. "Nigeria is the only country we have," he said. "Let us live as brothers and sisters, respecting one another's faith and working together for the peace, unity and progress of our beloved nation." He added that he expects a shift in how Nigerians evaluate candidates. "I believe that the day will come when Nigerians will no longer judge one another by religion but by character, competence and commitment to national development."

What the campaign group says it wants

Beyond the rhetoric on unity, Okoye used the interview to describe the group's operational priorities. He said the campaign group intends to deepen its ties with Nigerians living abroad as part of a wider diaspora engagement push, though he did not specify which countries or communities the group is targeting, or what form that outreach will take. He said the group will otherwise rely on what he called peaceful civic participation and grassroots engagement to build support nationwide.

That grassroots language was echoed by other speakers at the Abuja event, who called on members to intensify mobilization efforts down to the ward level. It's a level of organizational detail campaign groups typically only reach when they expect a competitive race. No membership figures, budget, or funding sources for the campaign group were disclosed at the event, based on the account provided.

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Attendees at the event credited the Tinubu administration with economic reforms, infrastructure projects, education initiatives, and security measures. They also acknowledged, in the same breath, that some of those reforms "require patience and sacrifice," an implicit nod to the economic pain that has followed Tinubu's 2023 removal of a longstanding fuel subsidy and the naira's subsequent devaluation. Both moves triggered sharp increases in the cost of living, findings that independent economists and Nigerian civil society groups have documented repeatedly since 2023. The event's attendees, according to the account, framed that hardship as a temporary cost of a longer-term fix. That framing is standard for an endorsement event organized by the president's own supporters. It's not an independent assessment.

Women leaders at the event pressed for greater representation in governance and urged Nigerian women to take a more active role in politics and community leadership. Traditional rulers who spoke called for peace and unity as, in their words, "essential pillars for sustainable development." The event closed with the introduction of the group's National Executive Council members, a vote of thanks, and a group photograph, a routine sequence for Nigerian political endorsement events of this kind.

What's still unclear

The campaign group says similar mobilization events are coming to the South-South, South-East, South-West, North-Central, North-East, and North-West zones, but it has not released dates, venues, or a timeline for that rollout. It also has not disclosed how it is funded, how many members it claims nationwide, or how the diaspora engagement strategy Okoye described will actually operate. Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission has not yet published a formal calendar for the 2027 general election, meaning the exact timing against which this mobilization campaign is racing remains, for now, undetermined.