Yari’s Long Road to Campaign Command – THISDAYLIVE

Emma Okechukwu

Political appointments are often announced in a single sentence. But the experiences that recommend individuals for consequential assignments are rarely accumulated overnight.

That distinction is useful in considering the appointment of Senator Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari as Director-General of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 elections.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu formally constituted the campaign council on August 22, 2026, with Yari as Director-General. 

The appointment immediately elevated the former Zamfara governor to one of the most important operational positions in the governing party’s re-election machinery.

Yet, to assess the appointment only from the standpoint of the announcement would be to ignore the political journey that preceded it.

Yari’s participation in Nigerian politics stretches back more than two decades. His progression through party administration, legislative politics, executive government and intergovernmental leadership has exposed him to different layers of the political system.

He served as Secretary of the then All Nigeria People’s Party in Zamfara between 1999 and 2003, became state chairman of the party, later served as its National Financial Secretary and was elected to the House of Representatives in 2007.

Four years later, he was elected Governor of Zamfara State and won re-election in 2015. That same year, his fellow governors elected him Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, a position he occupied during a politically significant period in the country’s democratic history. He presently represents Zamfara West in the Senate.

Taken together, these are not simply offices to be listed in a biographical sketch. They represent different political laboratories.

Party administration…