Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah has charged candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 elections to campaign with visible impacts and projects of his administration, saying that the party targets total victory in the coming exercise.

This is as the party’s Deputy National Chairman (South), Dr. Benjamin Nwoye, and the Chief of Staff to Governor Mbah, Victor Udeh, charged the candidates to close ranks and embark on aggressive grassroots mobilisation.

The charge was given on Monday at a one-day strategic retreat for APC candidates and key party officials held at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Enugu, where the party sought to harmonise its campaign strategy and energise its candidates ahead of the elections.

Represented by the Secretary to the State government, Prof Chidiebere Onyia, the governor congratulated the candidates on their emergence and commended them for the resources they had invested in their campaigns, saying the retreat was necessary to ensure that individual efforts were properly aligned with the party’s strategy.

“Elections are not won on election day. The process that leads to the election makes it possible for the election to be won or lost,” he said, stressing the need for sustained mobilisation long before the actual polls.

He urged candidates to remain committed to the party’s collective objective, even when such commitment required personal sacrifice, warning that personal grievances must not make them work against fellow APC candidates.

He emphasised grassroots mobilisation and data-driven campaigning, urging candidates to organise kindred-by-kindred meetings, identify strategic stakeholders and deploy resources based on reliable information rather than emotions or the size of rallies.

He also charged candidates to establish a strong digital presence by consistently communicating also the achievements of President Bola Tinubu, while engaging voters with facts, records and verifiable accomplishments.

The APC Deputy National Chairman (South), Dr. Benjamin Nwoye, declared that the party’s candidates must work together to achieve comprehensive victory, warning against selective support for candidates on the APC platform.

“The era of voting for one candidate and rejecting another is gone. We must vote from top to bottom,” Nwoye said, urging party members to put personal disagreements aside in the interest of the party.

Nwoye, who spoke on the theme, “Building Synergy for Effective Mobilisation, Issue-Based Campaigning and Electoral Success,” said the retreat was aimed at aligning party officials, candidates, support groups and grassroots structures towards a common electoral objective.

He said the party could not afford fragmented campaigns, stressing that candidates must understand their constituencies while campaign structures, support groups and party officials must work together rather than operate at cross-purposes.

According to him, candidates must aggressively take the APC message to the people through radio, television, social media, town hall meetings, community engagements, posters, jingles and other campaign platforms. “A silent candidate cannot defeat a loud opposition,” he warned.

Nwoye also urged the candidates to sensitise voters on the voting process and the APC’s broom symbol, while ensuring that every community was “blanketed” with facts about the achievements of the party’s governments at the state and federal levels.

He called for reconciliation among party members, saying disagreements should be resolved internally and should not be allowed to jeopardise the party’s collective interest. “The party is the permanent institution. Candidates come through the party, campaign through the party and win on the platform of the party,” he said.

Chief of Staff, Udeh, said the governor directed the meeting to “prompt and energise” the candidates, following concerns over what he described as their inactivity since the conclusion of the party’s primaries.

“We observed that there was a lot of inactivity from your side since after the primary. And this is true because of the feelers we’re getting from the streets and communities,” Udeh told the candidates, urging them to immediately return to their constituencies and reconnect with the electorate.

He tasked the candidates with articulating their campaign messages around verifiable achievements of the APC-led administrations, stressing that they should not become tired of repeating their messages and presenting evidence to the people.

Udeh cited the Federal Government’s approval for a gas pipeline to pass through the Southeast and ongoing road projects, including the Enugu-Port Harcourt Road, Ninth Mile-Markurdi Expressway, Enugu-Onitsha Road and Enugu-Abakaliki Road, as issues candidates should take to the electorate.

He also defended President Bola Tinubu’s administration against criticisms over the removal of fuel subsidy, arguing that increased Federation Account allocations had substantially boosted the resources available to states and local governments. “The federation allocation to states and local government areas has more than increased to over 300 per cent,” he said.

Enugu State APC Chairman, Dr. Martin Chukwunweike, said the party was determined to leave no stone unturned in its efforts to elect all its candidates, urging members to remain focused and united.

Chukwunweike said the party was working towards victory in the various elections, including the return of its candidates at the national, state and local levels, adding that APC members must intensify their mobilisation efforts.

Speaking on behalf of the candidates, the member representing Enugu West senatorial district, Senator Osita Ngwu commended Governor Mbah for making the campaign easier through his administration’s projects and programmes, urging candidates to identify such projects within their constituencies and communicate their impact to the electorate.

Ngwu described the retreat as a wake-up call for the candidates, saying the presentations had highlighted areas where they needed to improve their strategies. “All of us want to win this election. It will be a thing of pride for us to win. So, we’re going to do more because the ball is in our court,” he said.

He urged the candidates and party members to learn from the APC’s experience in 2023 and ensure that the outcome of the forthcoming elections was different, stressing that victory would require greater commitment, coordination and grassroots mobilisation.