Chocolate City Group founder Audu Maikori has been named one of three Secretaries of the Election Planning Directorate in President Bola Tinubu’s newly unveiled All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Maikori will serve alongside Stella Okotete and Engineer Abdullahi Garba Ramat as secretaries of the directorate, placing the entertainment executive turned politician squarely inside the operational heart of the APC’s 2027 electoral strategy. The council, announced Saturday in a statement by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, is chaired by President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima, with former Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari as Director-General and Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma as Secretary.
The appointment marks the latest step in a political journey Maikori has been building publicly for close to a year. The lawyer and Chocolate City co-founder, whose label helped launch the careers of M.I Abaga, Ice Prince, Brymo and Femi Kuti, joined the APC in November 2025 as part of a broader Southern Kaduna realignment. In March 2026, he formally declared his intention to contest the House of Representatives seat for the Jaba/Zangon Kataf Federal Constituency, telling supporters in a mix of English and Hausa, “Ai Namu ya dawo! (Our son has come home!) … Lokaci ya yi. The time is now.”
Speaking on Channels Television’s Lunchtime Politics earlier this year, Maikori framed his pivot as a rejection of what he called the era of “political palliatives,” arguing for a shift toward genuine economic architecture and stronger intellectual property protections for Nigeria’s creative industries, whose contribution to GDP he noted remains under 1 percent despite the global rise of Afrobeats. He also identified gender inclusion as a legislative priority, pointing to the underrepresentation of women in the National Assembly.
Maikori’s new role places him alongside a large roster of APC heavyweights on the campaign council, including Minister of Information Mohammed Idris, Dele Alake, Bayo Onanuga and Lanre Issa-Onilu on the media directorate, and Muiz Adeyemi Banire heading the legal directorate. The council is expected to coordinate the party’s nationwide election preparations ahead of the January 2027 polls.
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