Tinubu re-election: Uzodimma avoids criticism, unveils plans for public engagements

Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, has avoided a recent public criticism from the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, choosing instead to focus and deepen his campaign for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu through an expanded strategy of grassroots media engagement and mobilization.

Rather than embroil Wike in an escalating public war of words, Uzodimma, who is also the chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) and director general of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors (RHA), has stepped up efforts to take the message of Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda to local communities across the country.

Speaking on the initiative, RHA Logistics Director Shehu Bala Usman said on Tuesday that the latest phase of the strategy involves a wider media and public information campaign, with a weekly media outreach to be featured on television channels, starting in the next few days.

“This is an effective use of digital platforms and new media to enlighten the general public about the federal government’s policies, counter misinformation, and connect the administration’s reform narrative with grassroots voters,” Usman said.

More recently, a group of lawyers called on the FCT minister to stop what they described as personal attacks on the Imo governor, to avoid conflicts of interest and ensure proper coordination of the president’s re-election campaign.

Uzodinma, however, continued to focus on building a nationwide communication and mobilization mechanism for the Tinubu administration.

The Renewed Hope Ambassadors previously unveiled a digital platform designed to aggregate policy experts for updates on reforms and other government information, while integrating social media channels to broaden its reach.

The initiative also includes citizen engagement and feedback, with the organization’s structures extending from the national level to states, local governments, districts and electoral units.

The RHA director said the development represents an expansion of Uzodimma’s broader strategy of using media communications as a mobilization tool ahead of the 2027 elections.

During a national mobilization retreat in Abuja in June 2026, the Imo governor had warned that inadequate communication could create a distorted public perception of government policies and achievements, urging supporters to take the administration’s message directly to the grassroots.

He later revealed a mobilization architecture covering the country’s 176,846 polling units, with 25 mobilizers appointed in each polling unit – a structure he said would amount to 4,421,150 grassroots mobilizers.

Uzodimma also used the RHA platform to rally support for Tinubu’s second term bid, instructing national directors and coordinators in the 36 states, including the FCT, to intensify grassroots mobilization and public awareness of the administration’s programmes.

This approach suggests a shift in emphasis from political exchanges surrounding the Wike-Uzodimma feud to the broader electoral goal of consolidating support for Tinubu and projecting the achievements of his administration.

The RHA said the media strategy is therefore being positioned not simply as an information campaign, but as a grassroots communications network capable of bringing the message of Renewed Hope into communities, markets, campuses, neighborhoods and voting precincts ahead of the 2027 presidential election and beyond.

Uzodimma had previously said the 2027 elections would test public acceptance of Tinubu’s reform agenda, arguing that the administration’s supporters must do more to communicate its policies and achievements to Nigerians.

It would be recalled that the governor was at the forefront of President Tinubu’s re-election, saying the president’s reforms and development initiatives had laid the foundation for a second term.