Tompolo backs Tinubu for 2027, donates 30 vehicles in Imo

High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, widely known as Tompolo, has thrown his weight behind President Bola Tinubu's re-election bid, saying the President should get another four years to finish the reforms his government began in May 2023.

He made the call on Tuesday in Imo State, at the launch of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, a support group working for the President's re-election. Tompolo was represented at the event by Chief Kestin Pondi, the Managing Director of Tantita Security Services Limited.

As part of the backing, the group handed over 30 vehicles to help the movement take its campaign to communities across the state. Pondi said the vehicles and other resources were given to support Governor Hope Uzodimma and the movement's work in Imo.

In a message read on his behalf, Tompolo described Tinubu as a leader who put the country's interest first when he took office. He said the President chose to reform Nigeria rather than take the easier political path.

"A man who loves Nigeria more than he loves himself," Tompolo said of the President.

He said the Imo chapter of the movement would be available to the governor whenever it was needed, and would work with other political leaders to carry the campaign from house to house.

Uzodimma: he should finish what he started

Governor Uzodimma thanked Tompolo for the donation and said his own reading of the President's record had convinced him that Tinubu should serve another term.

The governor said the administration had recorded gains but still had work left undone, and that continuity would let the President complete it. He said he and others had decided to lead the push for that second term.

"We are partners in progress. We work with you. We do the work. We elect the President," Uzodimma said.

The movement's national coordinator, Sunday Asuku, asked Nigerians to bear with the government, saying the economic hardship that came with its reforms would give way to long-term gains. He said Tinubu had laid a foundation over the past three and a half years and should be allowed to build on it.

"Things might be rough, but Nigeria is on the right trajectory," he said.

Asuku also urged voters to look closely at the records of opposition politicians before deciding, and called on them to come out on January 16, 2027, the date he gave for the presidential election.

Imo APC chairman Austine Onyedebelu listed the removal of the petrol subsidy, foreign exchange reforms, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund and the rise in the national minimum wage to ₦70,000 as steps taken by the administration. He also conceded that high food and transport costs remain a burden for many Nigerians, and said policies should be judged by how they affect people's daily lives.

What happens next

The movement said it will keep taking its message to towns and communities across Imo rather than relying only on rallies. The 2027 general election is still more than a year away, and the sources did not say whether other parties or candidates have formally declared.