By our Reporter
Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State, has inaugurated the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Election Campaign Council, directorates and sub-committees in the state, urging members to unite and mobilise support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
Aiyedatiwa, who chairs the campaign council, described the inauguration as a strategic step towards the forthcoming general elections, stressing that unity and coalition-building were essential to the party’s electoral success.
He warned that the APC’s status as Nigeria’s and Africa’s largest political party would not guarantee victory without internal cohesion, urging members to work collectively towards winning the presidential, senatorial, House of Representatives and state House of Assembly elections.
“It’s only when we retain power, that is when your own individual interests and your community interests can be met. All of us must work together to achieve total victory,” the governor said.
He urged campaign officials to promote the achievements of the Tinubu administration and his government in Ondo State, citing regular salary payments, graduate training, road and bridge construction, provision of equipment for government hospitals and health centres, and investment in education.
According to him, the Federal Government’s reforms and projects provide the APC with issues to present to voters ahead of the elections.
“The President has made the job easy for us by those reforms. There is no government that has done what Asiwaju has done in the history of presidential ruling in Nigeria,” Aiyedatiwa said.
The governor also cited the coastal highway project as an example of Tinubu’s willingness to undertake major infrastructure projects, adding that the campaign council must take the administration’s achievements to communities across Ondo State.
He said the inauguration followed a directive issued to party leaders at the national level on Wednesday, October 14, to return to their respective states and replicate the campaign structure.
Also speaking, the Deputy Governor, Dr Olayide Adelami, urged APC members to intensify grassroots mobilisation to secure at least one million votes for Tinubu in 2027.
Adelami said the target could be achieved through house-to-house and street-to-street campaigns, calling on women, youths, men, elders and other groups to participate actively in the mobilisation exercise.
The Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Olamide Oladiji, also urged party leaders and members to work towards Tinubu’s re-election, expressing confidence that the state would sustain its record of electoral victories.
Similarly, the Chairman of the Governor’s Advisory Council, Dr Pius Akinyelure, expressed confidence that the APC would win convincingly, saying the large turnout at the inauguration demonstrated 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,” Akinyelure said.
In his welcome address, the APC State Chairman, Kolawole Babatunde, charged campaign committees to engage residents across the state and mobilise voters, adding that the campaign would focus on the achievements of the party’s governments.
“Our campaign is going to be issue-based. We’ll be telling our people what we have done as a government,” Babatunde said.
He highlighted areas of alignment between the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda and Aiyedatiwa’s administration, including social welfare programmes, student loans, grants and scholarships.
In their goodwill messages, Senator Remi Okinrinboye, Chief Olusola Oke and Senator Tayo Alasoadura commended Tinubu’s economic reforms and expressed confidence in the party’s prospects in Ondo State. They urged members to work towards securing at least one million votes for the President and victory for other APC candidates.
The Director-General of the Campaign Council, Victor Olabimtan, commended Tinubu’s efforts to improve the country and thanked Aiyedatiwa for his leadership, urging party members to support the President’s re-election bid.
Those present at the inauguration included the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Taiwo Fasoranti; former Deputy Governor, Otunba Omolade Oluwateru; Chairman of the APC Elders’ Forum, Senator Nimbe Farukanmi; members of the state House of Assembly; party chieftains; members of the State Executive Council; women and youth leaders; and other dignitaries.
