President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Thursday with political statement In what may be his most defiant and politically charged address since taking office in May 2023, the President gathered the 36 state coordinators of his Renewed Hope Ambassadors at the State House in Abuja alongside Vice President Kashim Shettima, APC governors, and party leaders and delivered a message that was almost look like a war cry, a political manifesto and a personal declaration of intent. With the opposition ADC fresh from a chaotic national convention, Aregbesola calling Renewed Hope a scam from that same podium, and 2027 now visibly looming on the horizon, Tinubu looked his political family in the eye and said they can't scare me off, I'll not run away, I'll give up, he also added that the work continues no looking back.
Renewed Hope Ambassadors is a structure President Tinubu personally established on November 25, 2025. it's not a government agency or a policy body it is explicitly a grassroots political mobilized people to a platform designed to promote Tinubu policies, counter opposition narratives and build the ward-level political foundational infrastructure needed to drive his re-election campaign ahead of the 2027 general elections. Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State was appointed as the Director-General of the structure, which operates across all 36 states with state coordinators responsible for activating supporters at the ward and local government levels.
The meeting on Thursday was a progress briefing the coordinators came to the State House to update Tinubu on how far the structure had advanced since it's creation and to reaffirm their commitment to the mission. Governor Uzodimma told the President in his worlds "Our purpose in coming here is to brief Mr President on how far we have gone with this national assignment, to present the substance of the work already done and to reaffirm that the structure you graciously created isn't just alive but active, focused, and already creating measurable political and civic dividends across the nation."
But the context in which this meeting took place and the temperature of the environment around it changed what might have been a routine briefing into something far more significant.
According to the video I watched on the president speech you have to understand the defiance in Tinubu's message, you need to understand what has been happening in Nigerian politics in the days before Thursday's meeting. The African Democratic Congress held it's national convention in Abuja just days ago and it became one of the most dramatic political events of the year so far. The convention was dogged by controversy from start to finish, with the ADC alleging that the Federal Capital Territory administration under Minister Nyesom Wike denied them access to public and private venues, forcing uncertainty about whether the convention would even hold. The venue confusion had opposition figures describing it as deliberate interference and "rascality."
Then came the speech that landed like a grenade. Rauf Aregbesola former Minister of Interior, former APC stalwart and former Tinubu ally turned bitter opponent took the ADC convention podium and delivered a scorched-earth assessment of the administration he once served. "Four years ago, this government promised Nigerians renewed hope for a better future. Now, three years into it's four-year term, it still holds promise and offers renewed hope. When exactly will this hope come into fruition? The answer is simple. It is a scam," Aregbesola declared to the applause of opposition delegates. He called on Tinubu to resign over worsening insecurity and economic hardship and described the administration's as management of the country as lawlessness.
The ADC has also formally petitioned INEC demanding the removal of it's chairman, and the broader opposition coalition including figures around Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar has been sending it's messaging around the 2027 elections. This whole political drama have put the political environment into pressure which Tinubu when he stood before his Renewed Hope Ambassadors on Thursday afternoon and publicly declared that he is will not submit to Noise.
On the President's message to his Renewed Hope Ambassadors which was published on his verified social media account and covered extensively by State House correspondents. It's key passages needs careful examination because they reveal both his political strategy and his personal state of mind at this critical juncture.
"We will not submit to noise, rascality, or disobedience to lawful court orders." This opening line is a direct response to two things simultaneously the opposition's characterisation of the ADC convention chaos as "rascality" being turned back on the opposition, and a reaffirmation of the Tinubu administration's stated commitment to the rule of law and court judgments. The word "rascality" used by both the opposition about the government's treatment of the ADC convention and by Tinubu about the opposition has become the defining political Language of this moment in Nigerian politics.
"We must uphold democracy, respect the judiciary whether it favours us or not, and remain faithful to the principles that hold our nation together." This is a statement that carries particular weight given the Supreme Court battles over election petitions that defined the early period of Tinubu's presidency. It is also a direct challenge to opposition forces who have questioned the legitimacy of his election, reaffirming that he considers the judicial process that confirmed his election to be legitimate and binding and expects everyone else to accept the same principle.
"There is no path to national greatness except the path of building one country, one common vision, one shared future of progress and prosperity for all Nigerians. That is what Renewed Hope is about." This is the philosophical heart of the speech a reframing of the Renewed Hope agenda not as a campaign slogan but as a national vision. It is a direct response to Aregbesola's "scam" characterisation, insisting that the vision is genuine and the direction is right even if the pace has been painful.
"They cannot scare me off. I have been through this road before and, if I must walk it again and again for our country, I will." Speaking in the room, Tinubu went further than the formal prepared remarks he directly taunted the opposition. "They want to scare me off? It's a lie," he said, drawing laughter and applause from the ambassadors. He reflected on the political battles that brought him to the presidency: "During the primary that got me here, it was tough; during the general election, it was tough." The implicit message is clear he has survived political adversity before and the current opposition pressure will not dislodge him.
"There is no better place than Nigeria, and no one will build it for us except ourselves." This is the patriotic anchor of the speech a call to ownership of the national project that simultaneously deflects criticism of hardship by framing it as a collective challenge rather than a government failure.
Beyond the formal prepared remarks, the live meeting produced some of the most politically pointed statements Tinubu has made since taking office. He took direct aim at the ADC convention, describing it as "noise making, the rascality of a street convention" in a phrase that made people started laughinh and applause in the room. He also took a veiled swipe and at Atiku Abubakar his 2023 presidential opponent who is now positioning for another run under the ADC by referencing Atiku's record as chairman of the National Privatisation Council during the Obasanjo administration. "If you look at all of them, no one is without history. The head was the chairman of the privatisation council of Nigeria," Tinubu said. The privatisation programme of that era remains controversial, with critics arguing that key national assets were sold off under questionable circumstances.
The President also made a remark that has since generated significant political commentary "I took over from myself" a phrase that references the continuity between his tenure as Lagos State Governor, the political and economic infrastructure he built in that state, and his presidency. It is simultaneously a boast about his track record and a reframing of the narrative that his policies are untested.
The meeting was attended by a significant array of APC governors and party leaders whose presence underlines that the Renewed Hope Ambassadors meeting was as much a political rally as a briefing. Vice President Kashim Shettima represented the President at an earlier summit of the structure and tasked the ambassadors with moving "beyond conference centres to the wards, markets, and campuses, across the country." He described the administration's focus as having shifted from stabilisation in 2025 to acceleration in 2026.
APC National Chairman Professor Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda acknowledged something that is rarely admitted openly by ruling party officials that the government's achievements have not been adequately communicated. "Good governance without communication is invisible. I've visited many states. I've seen beautiful projects, beautiful things being done, but they're invisible and not communicated," he told the gathering. This acknowledgment that the APC's fundamental political problem ahead of 2027 is a communication gap rather than a governance gap is significant it tells you everything about how the ruling party views its situation.
Former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim, former presidential aide Rauf Mustapha Masari, and multiple governors including Hope Uzodimma, Mai Mala Buni, Mohammed Inuwa, Nasir Idris, Francis Nwifuru, Sheriff Oborevwori and Usman Ododo all delivered goodwill messages at the event.
The Renewed Hope Ambassadors structure established in November 2025 and the presidential attention being given to it in April 2026 tells you something important about how early the 2027 campaign machine is being activated. With the election scheduled for February 2027, the APC is beginning ward-level mobilisation now roughly 10 months before voters go to the polls. This is earlier than the typical Nigerian campaign timeline, reflecting the scale of the political challenge the APC faces given the economic hardship that has characterised much of Tinubu's first term.
The opposition is also moving early. The ADC convention, despite its chaotic circumstances, produced a structure around which Atiku, Aregbesola and potentially Peter Obi's supporters could coalesce. The removal of former APC stalwarts like Aregbesola — who knows the internal workings of the APC machinery intimately — to the opposition side represents a genuine threat that the party takes seriously.
Tinubu stand before him supporters and he say: "They cannot scare me off." That na bold statement from a man wey know say 2027 go be the fight of his political life.
The "rascality" word don land everywhere now. Opposition say government dey rascal. Government say opposition dey rascal. Every Nigerian wey dey watch dey wonder who actually dey do the work wey go make their life better?
That na the question wey 2027 go answer. Not the noise. Not the convention drama. Not the "scam" accusations from Aregbesola or the "I will not give up" declarations from Tinubu. Nigerian voters go answer am at the polling booths. And with 140 million people in poverty according to the World Bank's April 2026 report, the politics of 2027 will be shaped by the economics of 2026 far more than any speech however defiant delivered in Aso Rock.
📲 Follow Hotgist9ja on WhatsApp for instant breaking news updates: Click Here To Join Our WhatsApp Channel
Sources: Blueprint, Leadership Nigeria, Daily Post, Channels TV, State House Abuja, Politics Nigeria