Southwest leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have pledged to mobilise voters across the six states in the region to secure an overwhelming number of votes for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
The leaders made the commitment during a strategic meeting in Lagos convened by the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) Directorate of Mobilisation and Stakeholders Engagement, Southwest Zone, led by former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola.
The meeting brought together ten key party chieftains from each of the six Southwest states to review the party’s mobilisation efforts, assess its grassroots structures and address internal disagreements ahead of the election.
Participants resolved to intensify mobilisation, particularly at the grassroots level, with the aim of surpassing the votes Tinubu secured in the Southwest during the 2023 presidential election.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, former Ondo State Governor Segun Mimiko and former Ekiti State Governor Niyi Adebayo were among those who addressed the meeting.
Fashola described the mobilisation drive as a collective responsibility, stressing that effective stakeholder engagement would be critical to securing victory for the President.
He argued that the South should retain the presidency in 2027, noting that the country’s political arrangement had largely revolved around power rotation between the North and South.
The former governor urged party leaders to engage registered voters and encourage those who had become discouraged to participate in the election.
He also called for stronger unity within the party, particularly between members who emerged victorious in the primaries and those who lost.
According to Fashola, the mobilisation strategy would involve establishing stakeholder engagement structures at the state, local government and ward levels.
He said the directorate would coordinate the structures and visit the states to assess their effectiveness, adding that issues requiring national intervention would be escalated to the party’s national leadership.
Sanwo-Olu also emphasised the importance of grassroots mobilisation, noting that sustained engagement with voters at the local level would be essential to the party’s electoral success.
Former Ondo State Governor Mimiko expressed confidence in the President’s performance, claiming that there was broad agreement among Southwest political leaders to support Tinubu’s re-election.
He highlighted what he described as improvements in the education sector and the economy, urging party members to communicate the administration’s achievements to ordinary Nigerians in language they could understand.
Meanwhile, Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has held a strategic meeting with three ministers from the state as part of efforts to strengthen the APC’s mobilisation machinery ahead of the 2027 election.
The meeting, held on Monday night at the Ondo State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, was attended by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele; Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; and Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande.
A statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Ebenezer Adeniyan, said the meeting took place ahead of the APC presidential campaign rally scheduled for November 11 in Akure.
It was the first meeting between Aiyedatiwa and the three ministers since their appointments to the Federal Executive Council by President Tinubu.
An independent source familiar with the discussions said the meeting was significant in efforts to resolve previous disagreements among influential political figures in Ondo State and present a united front ahead of the election.
The source specifically pointed to a renewed understanding between Aiyedatiwa and Tunji-Ojo, whose political differences had previously fuelled speculation about divisions within the Ondo APC.
According to the source, both leaders agreed to put their differences aside and work towards securing overwhelming support for Tinubu in the state, with party stakeholders reportedly targeting more than one million votes.
The source added that Oyedele’s presence underscored the importance attached to the renewed political engagement among the state’s influential leaders.
An APC chieftain in Ondo State, Olu Fatogun, also described the meeting as a positive development, saying it would help unite different political tendencies within the party and strengthen its mobilisation efforts.
He said the November 11 rally in Akure was expected to attract prominent APC leaders, elected representatives, political appointees, support groups, women and youth organisations from the state’s 18 local government areas.
The development comes after the Ondo APC constituted a 228-member Presidential Campaign Council to coordinate campaign activities, mobilise support across the state and strengthen grassroots engagement ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
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