The All Progressives Grand Alliance has announced plans to adopt President Bola Tinubu as its candidate for the 2027 presidential poll once he is cleared by the All Progressives Congress to seek re-election.

“We hope that during the national convention of the APC, if he secures the nomination of his party through direct primaries, I can bet you that the national convention of APGA will adopt him as our presidential candidate,” said Sly Ezeokenwa, APGA’s national chairman, at a press briefing in Lagos on Thursday.

Mr Ezeokenwa pointed out that APGA, during the 2011 and 2015 elections, adopted Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party as presidential candidate.

“We decided to return to this policy for a reason. Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda resonates with us. He has shown us good faith,” the APGA chair explained. “We share a similar ideology. If he gets the nomination of his party, we’ll adopt him.”

He also said that, while the recently passed electoral amendment act provides that only party members whose names appear in the register will be eligible to vote or contest in party primaries, the provision for direct primaries will reduce the cost of electing candidates.

He said, “The constitution says you must belong to a political party, but you don’t determine for me who my members should be. It’s none of your business. There is a conscious attempt to emasculate smaller parties from fielding credible candidates.