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• Uzodimma pushes 4.4m-canvasser network • Edo APC sets 2.5m target • Ward ambassadors target 10m votes
From Romanus Ugwu, Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja and Tony Osauzo, Benin
Support groups and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have intensified grassroots and media mobilisation for President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election, unveiling ambitious vote targets and a nationwide canvassing structure.
At the national level, the Renewed Hope Ambassadors (RHA), led by Imo State Governor and Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Hope Uzodimma, is expanding a mobilisation structure designed to deploy 25 canvassers to each of the country’s 176,846 polling units.
The arrangement would produce 4,421,150 grassroots canvassers nationwide, according to the organisation.
Uzodimma has also stepped up the media component of the mobilisation effort, with the RHA expanding its use of television, digital and new-media platforms to explain government policies and programmes and engage voters at community level.
RHA Director of Logistics, Shehu Bala Usman, said a weekly television outreach would commence alongside an intensified digital campaign.
“It’s an effective use of digital and new media platforms to enlighten the general public on the Federal Government’s policies, counter misinformation, and connect the administration’s reforms narrative with the voters at the grassroots,” Usman said.
The initiative builds on the mobilisation structure unveiled by Uzodimma at the RHA National Mobilisation Retreat in Abuja in June.
Uzodimma said the organisation’s network would run through the six geopolitical zones, 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, 774 local government areas, 8,809 wards and 176,846 polling units.
“At 25 canvassers to a polling unit, that is a lawful civic force of 4,421,150 people across the federation. That is the mathematics of serious mobilisation. That is the difference between hoping to win and organising to win,” he said. The RHA said its latest media initiative was intended to connect national communication with grassroots mobilisation in communities, markets, campuses, wards and polling units.
Usman said the emphasis was on strengthening the organisation’s mobilisation machinery and communicating what the group described as the achievements and programmes of the Tinubu administration.
In Edo, Governor Monday Okpebholo expressed confidence that the APC would perform strongly in the state as he presented the party’s candidates for the 2027 elections during a mobilisation rally in Ologbo Wards 9 and 10 in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area. Okpebholo said the party had established structures across the state and urged members to remain united and work for its candidates.
The governor presented Ogbeide-Ihama for the Senate, Felix Igbinovia for the House of Representatives and Clement Ikponmwonsa for the House of Assembly.
Edo APC Chairman, Jarrett Tenebe, said the party was targeting 2.5 million votes for Tinubu in the state, adding that mobilisation had commenced across the 18 local government areas.
Tenebe said Okpebholo and his deputy, Dennis Idahosa, had been visiting communities and engaging party members as part of efforts to strengthen the APC ahead of the elections.
APC Chairman in Ikpoba-Okha, Sunny Ogbewe, said the governor’s visit had boosted the morale of members in the area and pledged continued mobilisation ahead of the polls.
In Abuja, Bichi’s Ward Wide Ambassadors for Tinubu 2027 said it would mobilise 10 million votes for the President.
Convener of the support group, Edward Abakpa, announced the target at the official launch of the organisation.
The group also named Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abubakar Kabir Bichi, as its Grand Patron.
Abakpa said the group’s support for Tinubu was based on its view that the President should be given another term to consolidate reforms initiated since 2023.
He cited investments in roads, rail, power, education, agriculture and healthcare, as well as the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), among reasons for the group’s mobilisation.
“Our target is to mobilise 10 million votes for President Tinubu in 2027 because we believe the reforms he has started must be consolidated.
“We are not limiting this mobilisation to Abuja or the major cities. We want to take the message to the wards, communities and polling units and engage Nigerians directly.
“We want to mobilise Nigerians through facts, engagement and grassroots interaction. Our responsibility is to explain what the government has done, what remains to be done and why we believe continuity is important,” Abakpa said.
The widening mobilisation efforts underscore the early push by APC-aligned groups and state party structures to build grassroots networks ahead of the 2027 elections.
