By Banji Ayoola
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu expects to haul at least 1.2 million votes in Ondo State in the forthcoming presidential election.
This figure represents two thirds of the state’ total 1.8 million registered voters who have collected their Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Altogether, Ondo State has a total registered voter population of 2.1 million, going by INEC records.
Setting this target on Wednesday at the All Progressives Congress Presidential campaign rally at Akure Township Stadium, the Vice-President Kashim Shettima said the state is crucial to Tinubu’s eeelection.
He boasted that Tinubu stands a better chance than any opposition candidate in Ondo State where he reportedly has the backing of prominent elderstatesmen and top-rate politicians.
Addressing a mammoth crowd of party supporters, Shettima said, “For the people of Ondo, as we are talking, there is a universal elite consensus backing the President here in Ondo,”
With former Governor Olusegun Mimiko, and ex-governorship candidate, Chief Olusola Oke, SAN, at the forefront of eminent political leaders in the state rooting for Tinubu’s reelection, Shettima said Tinubu’s electoral fortune in the state is brilliant.
Shettima described the massive turnout at the rally as a political shutdown, recalling the party’s campaign outings in Cross River, Nasarawa, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Ebonyi and Jigawa states.
While welcoming the campaign train to the state, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa pledged to boost Tinubu’s reelection with at least one million votes from the state in view of the ground work already done statewide, referring to the massive mobilisation characterized by the door to done campaign embarked upon by his administration in collaboration with the APC.
He declared Ondo’s commitment to the President’s second-term ambition.
Aiyedatiwa said the state voted massively for Tinubu in 2023 because of his leadership, progressive credentials and record as former Lagos State governor, adding that Ondo recorded the highest percentage of votes for him nationwide.
He said Tinubu had justified the confidence reposed in him through reforms introduced since assuming office in May 2023, whose benefits, he noted, had extended to the grassroots.
The governor thanked the President for appointing three ministers from Ondo: the Ministers of Finance and Coordinating Ministers of the Economy; Youth; and Interior.
He described the rally as a demonstration of Ondo’s resolve to secure Tinubu’s re-election, saying participants would return to their local governments, wards and polling units to mobilise residents and publicise the President’s achievements.
His words, “We will all go to the mountains, to the hills and everywhere to tell the people about your re-election,”
Also speaking, APC National Chairman, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, described Tinubu as the most experienced, exposed, prepared and competent among the 18 presidential candidates presented by political parties.
He said the President was fearless and had confronted Nigeria’s economic challenges, noting that more than 31 states which could not pay salaries when he assumed office could now meet their obligations.
Yilwatda insisted that the APC had the most competent and prepared candidate for the country’s defining moment before inviting Shettima to represent the President at the rally.
The Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign and former Zamfara State Governor, Abdulazeez Yari, said Tinubu had demonstrated exceptional commitment to Ondo through political appointments and other benefits.
“These five positions are equivalent to about 10 ministers in Ondo,” Yari said.
He said the President had extended such consideration to the state despite its not being an oil-producing state, citing infrastructure provisions, the nine per cent allocation and cash transfer arrangements arising from the review of the relevant programme.
Yari urged Aiyedatiwa and other APC leaders to intensify mobilisation, stressing that the party was seeking millions of votes from Ondo to widen Tinubu’s national electoral margin.
“We are not looking for Asiwaju to win in Ondo State. We are looking for Asiwaju to get millions of votes that will give the margin for the presidency,” he said.
Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum and Secretary of the Presidential Campaign Council, Governor Hope Uzodimma, urged eligible voters to collect their PVCs ahead of the election.
He said Ondo had 2.4 million registered voters, but only 1.4 million had collected their cards, leaving nearly one million uncollected at INEC offices.
In his goodwill message, former Edo State Governor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, urged Nigerians, particularly youths, to support Tinubu’s re-election, arguing that the country needed statesmen rather than petty traders in politics.
He praised Tinubu for appointing competent people to key positions, citing the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy as evidence of the President’s confidence in the intellectual capacity of Nigerians.
Oshiomhole said the administration had continued to invest in roads and railways, while the Federal Government had approved an additional N70,000 for federal civil servants to improve their purchasing power.
Former Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, pledged to work with other leaders to deliver votes for Tinubu and all APC senatorial and House of Representatives candidates.
Mimiko commended Tinubu for building political consensus among the country’s political elite on major national issues, including the proposed establishment of state police.
He, however, cautioned that state police would not automatically eliminate insecurity, just as economic reforms could not resolve every challenge overnight, but maintained that the country was on the right path.
Also, APC chieftain, Chief Olusola Oke, SAN, said Ondo leaders were indebted to Tinubu for projects and political appointments, pledging to work towards delivering the one million votes.
He dismissed social media propaganda against the party and expressed confidence in APC leaders’ ability to unite members and mobilise support for the President.
Senate Leader, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, urged APC leaders in Ondo to rally behind Aiyedatiwa, the state campaign coordinator, to secure Tinubu’s re-election, insisting that the state must deliver at least one million votes.
Bamidele disclosed that Tinubu personally gave him two messages for the rally, stressing that the January 16 election would cover the presidency and National Assembly, not the governorship.
He called for the inclusion of Chief Mrs Oladunni Odu, DI Kekemeke, Olusola Oke, Wale Akinterinwa and Dr Olusegun Mimiko in the campaign, maintaining that unity would make the one-million-vote target achievable.
Bamidele cited Tinubu’s appointment of three ministers and two ambassadors from Ondo, including Nigeria’s representatives to the United Nations and Russia, saying the appointments that should translate into votes for the President.
Roll call at the rally included included the Ministers of Finance, Dr Taiwo Oyedele; Interior, Hon Bunmi Tunji-Ojo; and Sports, Hon Ayodele Olawande.
Others are member representing Akoko North-East/North-West Federal Constituency, Hon Ifeoluwa Ehindero; the Director General.of the Industrial Trust Fund (ITF), Dr Afiz Ogun; members of the State Executive Council; members of the Ondo State House of Assembly; APC candidates and chieftains; local government chairmen; political appointees; artisans; support groups; Iyalajes and Iyalojas; youths, among others.
