By Ibrahim Kegbegbe
The Director-General of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors (RHA) and Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, has disclosed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has recruited 4,421,150 canvassers across Nigeria’s 176,846 polling units as part of preparations for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
Uzodinma expressed confidence that the achievements of the Tinubu administration would secure another mandate for the President in the next general election.
Speaking during his keynote address at the two-day National Retreat of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, on Wednesday, the governor said the gathering was aimed at strengthening a nationwide grassroots mobilisation structure ahead of the 2027 polls.
He explained that with 25 canvassers assigned to each polling unit, the party had built what he described as a lawful civic force numbering 4,421,150 people nationwide.
“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.
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Uzodinma revealed that the Renewed Hope Ambassadors had established a multi-layered command structure extending from a national coordinating centre through the six geopolitical zones, the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, down to the 774 local government areas, 8,809 wards and registration areas, and finally to all polling units.
According to him, the organisation currently operates through 17 directorates, including youth mobilisation, media and publicity, digital and new media, technology and data, intelligence, women affairs, diaspora affairs, legal services, research and innovation, among others.
He also announced that the RHA launched a digital platform in April with a Data Communication Centre designed to monitor public opinion and tackle misinformation in real time.
Describing the 2027 election as a decisive moment for the country, Uzodinma said Nigerians would have to decide whether to continue on what he termed a difficult but necessary path of reforms, stability and shared prosperity or return to the old order.
He urged delegates from across the six geopolitical zones to use the retreat to produce a Declaration on National Mobilisation, a National Grassroots Mobilisation Blueprint, a Standard Messaging Manual, State Action Plans, a Polling Unit Deployment Doctrine, a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, and an Election Readiness Checklist.
“Do not waste it on speeches. Build something that lasts,” he charged participants, describing them as the bridge between government policies and citizens in every ward, market and polling unit.
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Uzodinma maintained that the greatest threat to any government was not failure but silence.
“Very often, it is silence. When we do good work and nobody hears the story, someone else tells it for us, and they tell it wrong. When reform goes unexplained, rumour rushes in to fill the gap,” he said.
Defending the removal of fuel subsidy and foreign exchange reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration, the governor argued that the policies were painful but necessary for the country’s long-term economic recovery.
“The President chose the path of courage over convenience. Our responsibility is to explain these reforms to Nigerians and ensure that the benefits are clearly understood at the grassroots,” he stated.
He pointed to recent economic indicators as signs that the reforms were yielding results, noting that Nigeria recorded a Gross Domestic Product growth of 3.89 per cent in the first quarter of 2026.
Uzodinma further highlighted ongoing infrastructure projects, including the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway, Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road, Enugu-Onitsha Expressway and Bodo-Bonny Road.
He also cited progress in healthcare delivery, the student loan initiative, consumer credit programme, implementation of the new minimum wage, tax reforms and the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative as evidence of achievements under the administration.
In his welcome address, APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, said the Tinubu administration had recorded notable economic successes in the last three years.
According to him, Nigeria’s foreign reserves had exceeded $50 billion, while the country posted a trade surplus of N7.55 trillion in the first quarter of 2026. He added that Shell had committed fresh investments worth $20 billion despite previously reducing its operations in Nigeria.
“Investors who once sat on the sidelines are now taking a fresh look at Nigeria. Shell that was pulling investment is committing a fresh $20 billion into our economy,” Yilwatda said.
He also noted that international credit rating agencies had upgraded Nigeria’s sovereign ratings due to improvements in foreign exchange management, fiscal performance, external balances and investor confidence. He added that states and local governments were benefiting from increased allocations arising from higher revenues.
The Merit Newspaper reports that Yilwatda urged members of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors to translate government statistics into stories that ordinary Nigerians could easily relate to.
“Policies do not speak for themselves. Projects do not speak for themselves. Statistics do not speak for themselves. People speak,” he said.
He urged members to tell stories of beneficiaries of student loans and healthcare initiatives, stressing that while data informs the mind, stories inspire emotions.
The APC chairman also referenced economic figures cited by Uzodinma, noting that real GDP grew by 3.89 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026 compared to 3.13 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year, with the non-oil sector contributing 96.08 per cent of the growth, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
He identified the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway—with over 300 dams incorporated for agriculture, energy and water supply—and the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline as key projects of the administration.
Also speaking, the Secretary of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors and Governor of Gombe State, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, said the retreat was convened in response to the approaching 2027 elections.
“We are here because Nigeria is in a race against time as the 2027 general election is fast approaching. Mobilisation is the engine that will power our Renewed Hope Agenda to victory and beyond,” he said.
Describing himself as a committed soldier of the Renewed Hope Agenda, Yahaya called on participants to counter what he described as coordinated misinformation from the opposition and urged them to maintain confidentiality regarding internal strategy documents.
“Any document intended for public consumption will be disseminated through appropriate channels,” he added.
Former Governor of Nasarawa State and APC stalwart, Senator Tanko Al-Makura, told journalists that the Renewed Hope Agenda represented the culmination of over 12 years of the APC’s political evolution.
The retreat came shortly after the APC concluded its nationwide staggered primaries for the 2027 elections, producing candidates for governorship seats, the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly.
Following the primaries, APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda had described the exercise, after briefing President Tinubu during the Sallah holidays at his Ikoyi residence, as the most competitive in Nigeria’s political history.
The Renewed Hope Ambassadors was established in late 2025 as a civic engagement platform to coordinate grassroots communication of government policies and provide responses to what it described as misinformation about the administration.
On November 25, 2025, President Bola Tinubu appointed Governor Uzodinma as a Renewed Hope Ambassador and Director-General for party outreach, engagement and mobilisation ahead of the implementation of the Ward Development Programme.
He later appointed Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani as Deputy Director-General for outreach, engagement and mobilisation on February 17, 2026.
The RHA held its inaugural summit in February 2026, where it unveiled the Renewed Hope Compendium and a grassroots communication framework.
At the summit, Vice President Kashim Shettima, representing President Tinubu, declared 2026 as the “Year of Acceleration.”
