2027: How APC Plans To Ensure Tinubu Wins In Lagos

Determined to reclaim its dominance in Lagos after the 2023 presidential upset, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has unveiled a coordinated grassroots strategy aimed at securing victory for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election.

At the centre of the plan is the Renewed Hope Ambassadors initiative, inaugurated in Ikeja by Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, recently. The governor appointed 20 local government coordinators tasked with driving door-to-door engagement across communities to promote the achievements of the Tinubu administration.

Sanwo-Olu said the initiative was designed to strengthen communication between the government and citizens at the grassroots, ensuring that residents are fully aware of policies implemented since 2023.

According to him, the ambassadors will move from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, communicating the administration’s programmes in local languages.

“The aim of this project is not to kick off any campaign, but to create awareness about the successes we have seen in the last three years,” Sanwo-Olu said.

“These ambassadors will go from neighbourhood to neighbourhood to let people be aware of the commitments given by the President and what has been delivered so far. The aim is to ensure the messages are communicated to all citizens in their languages.”

The project operates within a national framework coordinated by the Director-General of the initiative and Chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, with structures extending from the national level down to local communities.

The APC is also targeting more than 20 million registered members nationwide, as its ongoing electronic membership registration nears 12 million entries, with a significant portion of the figure coming from Lagos.

Learning From 2023

The APC’s renewed mobilisation comes in response to the outcome of the 2023 presidential election in Lagos, where Labour Party candidate Peter Obi polled 582,454 votes to defeat Tinubu, who secured 572,606 votes.

Although the APC maintained control of the majority of local government areas in the state, the overall result was widely described as a political shock.

Lagos APC spokesperson Oluseye Oladejo described the 2023 outcome as an anomaly, insisting that the party has since strengthened its structures and addressed internal lapses.

He expressed confidence that improved grassroots coordination, voter engagement, and what the party considers strong governance performance at both state and federal levels will deliver a different result in 2027.

“President Tinubu will win Lagos, and he will win handsomely. That much I can assure you. All those factors that worked in their (opposition) favour then, they don’t exist anymore, and the performance of the incumbent governor and other officeholders in Lagos will count for something,” Oladejo told THE WHISTLER in a recent interview.

“People have been able to see through those lies, through the facade of misinformation that was being peddled everywhere. The youths who were largely misinformed have been able to see clearly that the man they put forward is very far from being a saint.”

Economic Reforms And Political Calculations

Since assuming office in May 2023, the Tinubu administration has implemented major economic reforms, including petrol subsidy removal and foreign exchange market unification. While the policies have drawn criticism over rising living costs, the government maintains that they are necessary steps to stabilise the economy.

In October 2025, the World Bank estimated that about 139 million Nigerians were living in poverty, even as it commended the administration for undertaking reforms it described as foundational for long-term economic transformation.

“Over the last two years, Nigeria has commendably implemented bold reforms, notably around the exchange rate and the petrol subsidy. These are the foundations on which the country has the opportunity to build a programme that can transform its economic trajectory,” said the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mathew Verghis.

“Despite these stabilisation gains, many households are still struggling with eroded purchasing power. Poverty, which began to rise in 2019 due to policy missteps and external shocks such as COVID-19, has continued to increase even after the reforms. In 2025, we estimate that 139 million Nigerians live in poverty.”

Political analysts say that the current economic hardship remains a major concern for many voters, but the APC appears to be betting on intensified grassroots mobilisation to secure Lagos — a state considered symbolically and strategically crucial — for Tinubu in 2027.

Lagos is the most populous state in Nigeria and has registered voters exceeding seven million, according to data from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“The economy itself is a work in progress. All the years of waste, all the years of economic dislocation, the present government has not shied away from telling us that they inherited an economy that was almost in a comatose. And indices in recent times have indicated that the economy will only get better. And we cannot deny the facts of everything that the government is trying to put in place, including social interventions and massive infrastructure renewal,” Oladejo told THE WHISTLER.

A Public Affairs Commentator, Debo Adeniran, said it is unlikely that Tinubu will suffer a repeat of the 2023 presidential election setback in Lagos in 2027.

Adeniran, who is the Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), described the 2023 outcome in Lagos as the result of political complacency and the unexpected surge of the Obidient Movement.

According to him, many political actors (in the ruling party) took victory for granted during the 2023 polls, assuming that traditional voting structures would automatically deliver results.

He noted that the rapid rise of the Obidient Movement at the time significantly altered the electoral dynamics in Lagos, catching established political interests off guard.

However, Adeniran argued that the political environment in Lagos has since shifted, with political stakeholders reorganising and strengthening their grassroots operations.

He observed that the opposition landscape has evolved since 2023. According to him, many individuals who were active in the Labour Party at the height of the Obidient Movement have since moved to other political platforms.

“Since that loss in 2023, you know that the political environment in Lagos has been modified, directly or indirectly. And alignment and realignment has been occurring. Those that are negligent before have braced up.

“They have mobilised every nook and cranny towards becoming more politically conscious. And of course, those who constituted Obidient Movement then, many of them have even crossed over to other parties, not only to APC, but to even other existing parties. Many of those who are in the Labour Party didn’t leave with Obi,” Adeniran told THE WHISTLER.

“It’s not likely that Bola Tindu will lose his home state to the opposition in the coming 2027 elections.”

Adeniran also argued that, apart from Obi, no opposition figure has demonstrated the same level of electoral influence in Lagos since the 2023 presidential election.