The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council for the re-election of President Bola Tinubu and the Vice President Kashim Shettima, on Thursday, visited both the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Rashidi Ladoja and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Akeem Owoade, to seek their royal blessings.
The visits were held at their palaces in Ibadan, the state capital, and Oyo town, respectively.
The delegation was led by the Director-General of the campaign council, Abdulaziz Yari, with former governors Gbenga Daniel (Ogun), Ali Modu Sheriff (Borno), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), among others.
Also on the delegation were ministers, special advisers to the President and other chieftains of the party.
Speaking at the Olubadan Palace, Oke-Aremo, Yari stated that for the success of their assignment, there was a need for the input of the traditional rulers through their prayers.
He said, “This council was inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday. Our first point of call is Ibadan. This shows how significant the ancient city is to the leadership of our party.
“Also, President Tinubu has mandated us to visit all the traditional rulers nationwide in the course of carrying out the responsibility bestowed on us, which is to deliver him as re-elected President of the Federation on January 16, 2027.
“We are relying on the traditional rulers to deliver on this assignment. The feat cannot be achieved without your blessings and prayers.
“We are going to campaign with the track record of President Tinubu’s achievements in office in the past three years.
“We are going to campaign with what we have done and what we are going to do after being sworn in for the second term in office on May 29, 2027.
“Today, our economy is on the right path. This has been attested to by the survey conducted by the international community. All the projects started by the previous administrations in the country are receiving due attention from the present administration. While some have been completed, others are ongoing.”
Yari explained further that all six geopolitical zones had been turned into construction sites, adding that Tinubu had made the jobs easy to sell APC and his candidature to return as President in January 2027.
Responding, Oba Ladoja appreciated the council for the recognition accorded to the traditional institution nationwide.
He lauded the contribution of Tinubu-led administration to the socio-economic growth of the country in the past three years.
“If Tinubu contests as an independent candidate, he would still have the support of the people. My takeaway from the inauguration event is what the President told the Director-General: that he has come not as the President but as a presidential candidate, and that it was our responsibility to deliver him. That is the key message I took away,” Olubadan added.
The delegation thereafter left for Oyo to meet the Alaafin.
The Alafin of Oyo spoke in a similar vein while thanking Mr President for recent approvals and projects in the state.
Speaking with newsmen, the Chairman of the Niger Delta Basin Authority, Bosin Ebikeme, who represented the Chairman of Tantita Security Service, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, said that PBAT Door-To-Door Group was formed to galvanise support for re-election of Tinubu in 2027.
“This means we are not relying on anybody else to generate support; we are doing the work ourselves. Beyond the state coordinators, we have coordinators in all 774 local government areas and across the 33 municipal councils in the FCT.
“We also have structures at the ward and unit levels, reaching people house to house, person to person, door to door, mosque to mosque, church to church and community to community.
“We have established the group to be inclusive, with ambassadors, coordinators, elders’ councils and youth bodies. We want to ensure that everybody can identify with the movement,” he said.
He, therefore, urged the people of Oyo to support the President’s return to office, saying his re-election would enable him to complete the South’s two-term presidential tenure.
The grand patron of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, Tompolo, also donated 32 vehicles to the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement in Oyo to strengthen its grassroots mobilisation.
Donating the buses at Liberty Stadium, Oke-Ado in Ibadan, he said, “We are here today to tell you that we are coming to join you to canvass for votes across the country for your son, President Tinubu. What Tompolo is preaching is that Tinubu is doing very well.
“Tinubu’s reform policies are fantastic. We want you to support President Tinubu’s re-election for him to continue with the good work he is doing.
The APC governorship candidate in Oyo State, Sharafadeen Alli, assured the gathering that the party would deploy all available resources to secure victory in the state.
“We are very grateful. I want to assure you that we are going to make judicious use of all these vehicles and all other items that you may want to give us or that come from any other support group.
“As far as we are concerned in Oyo, we have stayed out of government for too long and we are sincerely working assiduously to ensure that we take over the mantle of leadership in Oyo State,” Alli said.
The National Coordinator of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, Sunday Asuku, urged the people of Oyo State, particularly the youth, to support Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Asuku described the President’s reforms as necessary for Nigeria’s economic growth and sustained development, citing the Nigerian Education Loan Fund as one of the administration’s people-oriented policies that had made a positive impact.
He urged members of the movement to intensify their grassroots mobilisation efforts and take the campaign for Tinubu’s second term to every nook and cranny of the state.