The All Progressives Congress (APC) has charged its governors, lawmakers, council chairmen and party executives to take President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign to the grassroots, saying the party’s control of the three tiers of government gives it an advantage that must be converted into votes.
Hope Uzodimma, Imo State governor and Secretary of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), gave the charge on Wednesday in Abuja at the inauguration of the council for the 2027 election, where the party’s leadership acknowledged that its extensive political structure would not by itself guarantee victory.
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Mr Uzodimma said the party must use its control of the federal, state and local governments to build a coordinated campaign reaching wards and polling units across the country.
Mr Uzodimma said the gathering, which included APC governors, members of the National Assembly, party executives and local government chairmen, represented the party’s political structure across the federation.
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“Every campaign is, at heart, local,” Mr Uzodimma said, adding that governors would lead campaigns in their states, council chairmen would take the message to local governments and wards, while legislators and party executives would work through their constituencies and polling units.
He said the party controlled the federal government, majorities in both chambers of the National Assembly, 31 of the 36 states and about 685 of the 774 local government councils.
“This is the strongest position any party has occupied in the Fourth Republic,” he said.
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But Mr Uzodimma warned that the APC’s dominance could create complacency if the party assumed its structures automatically translated into voter support.
“A party that controls every tier of government can easily grow comfortable and begin to mistake the size of its structure for the depth of its support,” he said.
“As critical as structures are, it is citizens who vote, and each one of them has to be persuaded.”
He urged party members to campaign peacefully and within the law, saying the conduct of the governing party would influence the tone of the 2027 election.
The governor also asked Mr Tinubu to remain focused on governance rather than allow the campaign to distract him from implementing his policies.
“Please, Your Excellency, leave the heavy lifting of this campaign to us,” he told the president.
Mr Uzodimma said the APC would defend the administration’s economic reforms, including the removal of petrol subsidy and reforms to the tax system, while highlighting what he described as improvements in economic indicators and government programmes.
He cited the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, consumer credit scheme, Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer and infrastructure projects as areas the campaign would present to voters.
Mr Uzodimma said the APC had no excuse not to win the election, but stressed that its members must first reconcile their differences and present a united campaign.
“The primaries are behind us,” he said. “Whatever disagreements they may have left, the success of any one of us cannot be built on the failure of another.”
He said the election would also serve as a referendum on the performance of APC governors, lawmakers and local government chairmen because voters would judge the party across all levels of government.
“Mr President will be on the ballot on 16 January 2027, but if we are honest with ourselves, so will we,” he said.
The governor eventually moved for a vote of confidence in Mr Tinubu’s leadership and committed the council to the Tinubu-Shettima ticket for a second term.
The campaign council secretary said the party’s argument for a second term would be based on the claim that Mr Tinubu’s first term had laid the foundation for economic recovery and that abandoning the reforms midway would amount to starting the process again.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, who is also a member of the campaign council, similarly framed the 2027 election as a choice between continuing Tinubu’s reforms and reversing them.
He said the council’s responsibility was not merely to organise rallies but to explain why “continuity under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu serves Nigeria better than reversal.”
Mr Tajudeen said the APC campaign should acknowledge the economic difficulties faced by Nigerians while presenting evidence of what he described as improvements in the economy.
He said the Nigerian economy grew by 4.2 per cent in the first half of 2026, while external reserves rose above $54 billion in September and the current account surplus reached $12 billion.
He also said non-oil exports exceeded $6 billion in 2025, which he described as the highest figure in the country’s history.
“Stability must reach every household. Revenue must improve public services. Reform must create real opportunities. Growth must produce jobs,” the speaker said.
He said the House had supported the Tinubu administration through legislation on student loans, the minimum wage, tax reforms, the Electoral Act 2026 and other measures.
According to him, the House received 2,747 bills and passed 363 in three years, while more than 70 of the bills had received presidential assent.
Mr Tajudeen told campaign council members to act as “ambassadors of truth, urging them to avoid insults and respond to opposition criticism with evidence.
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“An ambassador does not invent evidence. An ambassador masters it,” he said.
“An ambassador does not insult the public. An ambassador respects its intelligence.”
He said the campaign would be taken “constituency by constituency, ward by ward, street by street, door to door.”
Also speaking, Ibrahim Masari, Special Adviser to the President on Political and Other Matters, challenged members of the council to shift their attention from meetings in Abuja to grassroots mobilisation.
Mr Masari said the campaign should focus on polling units, wards, local governments and communities rather than “opening and painting offices” or holding unnecessary meetings.
“Stop talking to yourselves and start talking to the people,” he said.
He said the performance of members of the campaign council would be assessed based on actual results at the grassroots, rather than the number of promises they made.
He also urged party members to avoid hate speech, gossip and personal grievances, and to work for the success of all APC candidates.
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