Campaign for the reelection of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 election formally kicked off in Ondo State on Saturday with Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa pledging to deliver at least one million votes for the president.
He gave the pledge while inaugurating the Ondo State Presidential Election Campaign Council and sub-committees of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
It was like a carnival in Akure as smashingly-dressed party leaders, grassroots mobilisers, and supporters from across the state, apart from party chieftains and visitors from a Ross the country, flooded The Dome, venue of the event.
The council will be chaired by Aiyedatiwa, who charged members to unite and mobilise support for the President, describing the inauguration as a crucial step towards the general election.
He warned that the APC’s status as Nigeria’s and Africa’s largest political party would not guarantee victory without internal cohesion, stressing that unity and coalition-building, which brought the party to power in 2015, remained crucial to its electoral success.
Aiyedatiwa urged party members to learn from the divisions that produced factions within the PDP, cautioning that internal disagreements could jeopardise the APC’s chances, particularly in the state.
His words, “As large or as big as we are, if we are not together, it will be difficult to win the election. That is why it’s very, very important that we must remain united. It’s only when we retain power that your own individual interests and your community interests can be met. All of us must work together.”
According to him, retaining power is essential to protecting the interests of party members and their communities and urged the campaign council to base its appeal on the achievements of the Tinubu administration and his own administration in the state.
Listing his administration’s achievements, he cited the regular payment of salaries, training of graduates, construction of roads and bridges, provision of equipment for government hospitals and health centres, construction of schools and support for educational institutions.
He said Tinubu’s policies, projects and programmes had provided the party with compelling issues to present to voters, adding that the President had “made the job easy for us by those reforms.”
On the removal of the petrol subsidy, the governor recalled that all presidential candidates had promised during the 2023 election campaigns to scrap the subsidy and said Tinubu had fulfilled the promise and was deploying the resulting savings to projects intended to benefit the majority of Nigerians.
He criticised politicians who had allegedly changed their positions on subsidy removal and cited the coastal highway project as evidence of the president’s boldness, noting that the project had been planned for years without any previous president daring to embark on it.
The governor also addressed coastal erosion in Ondo State, saying his administration was working to tackle the Atlantic Ocean’s incursion, particularly in Ayetoro in the Ilaje Local Council Area of the state, where the persistent problem had affected the community and required federal intervention.
On his part, the Deputy Governor, Dr Olayide Adelami, urged APC members to intensify grassroots mobilisation to secure one million votes for Tinubu in 2027, saying the target depended on members’ commitment to reaching every household and community through house-to-house and street-to-street campaigns.
He described Tinubu as a visionary leader who fulfilled his promises and expressed confidence that the president would provide the necessary resources for the campaign.
The Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Olamide Oladiji, urged APC leaders to work for Tinubu’s re-election, saying the state was known for winning elections and should sustain the record.
The Chairman of the Governor’s Advisory Council, Dr Pius Akinyelure, expressed confidence that the APC would win convincingly, saying the large turnout showed members’ readiness for the electoral contest.
“We shall win and win convincingly. We shall make more than a million votes that we are now talking about. God will be with us all,” he said.
The Chairman of APC in the state, Kolawole Babatunde, charged the campaign committees to reach every part of the state, engage residents and mobilise voters, expressing confidence that the party would achieve its target based on its performance at state and national levels.
He said the Aiyedatiwa administration had completed more than 50 road projects, with over 50 others ongoing, and cited grants and scholarships for students and the payment of gratuities and pensions as achievements that would form the basis of the party’s campaign.
“Our campaign is going to be issue-based. We’ll be telling our people what we have done as a government,” he said.
In his acceptance speech, the Director-General of the Campaign Council, Victor Olabimtan, praised Tinubu’s efforts to make the country a better place.
While appreciating Aiyedatiwa, Olabimtan urged party faithful to support and canvass for Tinubu’s re-election, saying Ondo State could surpass its previous vote total.
Chairman of the Governor’s Advisory Council, Dr. Pius Akinyelure, expressed confidence of a convincing victory beyond one million votes.
Former Senator representing Ondo North, Remi Okinrinboye, likened Tinubu’s reforms to surgery, saying temporary pain would lead to recovery and strength.
Also former Senator representing Ondo Central, Tayo Alasoadura, and Olusola Oke, SAN, pledged to mobilise for the one million-vote target.
Oke said Tinubu deserved re-election, citing the appointment of three substantive ministers from Ondo State, federal road improvements and the coastal road project.
