President Bola Tinubu returned to Lagos on Tuesday after about four weeks in Europe, just as the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) announced an interfaith praise and prayer concert for the party’s candidates ahead of the 2027 elections.
Tinubu’s aircraft landed at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, at about 6:22pm, where Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and other senior political figures received him.
The President had departed Nigeria on August 30 for what the Presidency described as a working vacation. He spent about a week in London before proceeding to Paris, where he attended official and business engagements.
His return was announced earlier on Tuesday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who said the President had concluded the European trip and begun his journey home.
According to Onanuga, Tinubu chose to return through Lagos because of activities linked to the memory of the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. The President is expected to attend the October 1 premiere of a film honouring Abiola at the Wole Soyinka National Theatre in Iganmu. He is also scheduled to hold political meetings in Lagos before returning to Abuja.
The timing of the President’s return coincides with a fresh mobilisation by the Ogun APC, which is taking its campaign preparations beyond rallies and political meetings to an interfaith religious gathering.
The party will hold the event, tagged “Interfaith Prayer and Praise: Victory with God,” on Wednesday, September 30, at the Ake Palace Pavilion in Abeokuta.
The programme is designed to bring Christian and Muslim worshippers together for praise, thanksgiving and prayers for the country and APC candidates contesting the 2027 elections.
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Among those listed for prayers are Tinubu, the APC’s Ogun governorship candidate, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, and Governor Dapo Abiodun, who is seeking the APC ticket for the Ogun East Senatorial District.
The event is being powered by Adeola and the Ogun APC Campaign Council, according to a statement issued by Chief Kayode Odunaro, the senator’s media adviser and chairman of the campaign council’s media and publicity committee.
Abiodun is expected to serve as chief host, while former governor of the state, Chief Olusegun Osoba, is listed as special guest of honour.
The programme will feature Christian and Islamic performers, including Tope Alabi, Laolu Gbenjo, Beejay Sax, Lilian Nneji, Toluwasings, Soaty Arewa, Yusuf Olotu and Ahmed Alawiye Alalubarika. Religious leaders and other participants are expected to offer prayers for the nation and the party’s candidates.
The organisers described the gathering as an opportunity to give thanks and seek divine guidance as the country approaches another election cycle.
“As we look ahead, it is important that we pause to give thanks to God for His faithfulness and seek His guidance for the journey before us,” the organisers said.
They added that the programme was intended to bring people together “regardless of our different denominations and backgrounds” to pray for the nation, its leaders and the future.
The Abeokuta gathering comes as political activity surrounding the 2027 elections gathers pace in Ogun.
The state APC had earlier unveiled its governorship campaign council, bringing together figures including Osoba, former governors Gbenga Daniel and Ibikunle Amosun, Abiodun and Adeola. The structure places the party’s major political figures within a common campaign framework ahead of the election.
Adeola, who represents Ogun West in the Senate, is the APC’s governorship candidate, while Abiodun is the party’s candidate for the Ogun East Senate seat.
The prayer concert therefore provides another window into how the party is organising its campaign activities ahead of 2027. Unlike a conventional political rally, the event is framed around religious fellowship, with the organisers bringing Christian and Muslim elements into the same programme.
It also places the party’s federal and state ambitions in one setting. Tinubu is the presidential figure named by the organisers, while Adeola and Abiodun represent the party’s governorship and senatorial interests in Ogun.
Tinubu’s return to Lagos adds another political dimension to the week. The Presidency says he will hold meetings with political associates during his stay in the state, although details of those engagements have not been publicly released.
The prayer programme itself does not determine the outcome of any election. It is a campaign-season activity organised by the APC to rally supporters and seek religious support for its candidates.
With the 2027 contest approaching, Ogun’s political calendar is consequently taking shape through rallies, campaign structures, constituency mobilisation and, now, an interfaith gathering that places prayer at the centre of the party’s preparations.
