By Ade Oyeyemi
Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has tasked his political appointees with mobilising at least one million votes for President Bola Tinubu and other All Progressives Congress candidates in the 2027 general elections.
The governor also directed the appointees to monitor government projects in their respective communities, assess the quality of work executed by contractors and report any shortcomings to the state government.
Aiyedatiwa gave the directives on Friday during separate meetings with Special Assistants and Senior Special Assistants at the Dr Olusegun Mimiko Event Centre, popularly known as The Dome, and the Cocoa Conference Hall, Governor’s Office, Akure.
He said the appointments were aimed at strengthening grassroots governance, improving communication between the government and residents and ensuring that communities were adequately represented in the administration.
The governor urged the appointees to see their positions as an opportunity to contribute to governance, recalling their roles in the campaigns that secured his electoral victory.
He acknowledged that some of them had remained committed to the party for years without receiving political appointments, describing their elevation as recognition of their contributions.
Aiyedatiwa charged them to provide regular reports on developments in their respective local government areas, stressing that both positive and negative feedback would help the government identify areas requiring intervention.
He particularly instructed them to publicise completed road projects and report the performance of contractors to enable the government to assess the standard of work delivered.
The governor disclosed that road construction projects had been approved across the state’s 18 local government areas, with each council allocated between five and six kilometres of roads.
Turning to the 2027 elections, Aiyedatiwa urged the appointees to deploy their grassroots influence and political structures towards securing victory for Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima and other APC candidates.
He said retaining political power was necessary to sustain the party’s programmes and policies, adding that the responsibility of achieving the one-million-vote target rested on all party members.
“Our party leader, our president is a flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, and Senator Kashim Shettima is vice. We must return them. That is the only way we can retain power,” he said.
The governor insisted that the party must go beyond winning the state and work towards an overwhelming electoral victory.
“We have declared one million votes minimum. We must meet that target. The work belongs to all of us, and all that is needed to ensure that we hit that target will be provided, will be made available,” he added.
In his remarks, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Prince Segun Omojuwa, urged the newly appointed aides to demonstrate loyalty, integrity, discipline and commitment in carrying out their responsibilities.
Omojuwa described their appointments as a call to greater service, urging them to align their activities with the administration’s OUR EASE agenda.
He said the appointees were representatives of the governor at the grassroots and must conduct themselves in ways that would reflect positively on the administration.
Also speaking, the Ondo State APC Chairman, Kolawole Babatunde, expressed confidence in the party’s chances ahead of the 2027 elections, attributing its growing political strength to the performance of the Aiyedatiwa administration.
Babatunde said the APC would campaign on the achievements of the Tinubu-led Federal Government and the state government rather than make fresh promises to voters.
He commended the governor for involving party leaders at the local government level in recommending individuals for political appointments, describing the initiative as a significant move towards strengthening the party’s grassroots structures.
The APC chairman expressed confidence that the party would achieve its one-million-vote target in Ondo State.
Meanwhile, representatives of the newly appointed Senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants from the three senatorial districts pledged their loyalty to Aiyedatiwa and assured him of their commitment to the administration and the APC’s electoral success in 2027.
