Several groups have emerged in Ondo State canvassing for the reelection of President Bola Tinubu with six of them having affiliation with the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo. BABATOPE OKEOWO reports on activities of the groups
Since Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State announced his cabinet members earlier in the year, those who felt left out have taken solace in engaging themselves by forming different groups to canvass support for the reelection of President Bola Tinubu.
These support groups with different directors generals have rented campaign offices and branded them in All Progressives Congress (APC) colours. Many of the groups have also inaugurated state, senatorial and local government officials to pilot their affairs. The groups are populated by people with affiliation with the APC as well as those without political leanings.
They include Grassroots Movement for Tinubu (GMT), Sunshine Grassroots Network (SGN), Tinubu Support Group (TSG), BTO4 PBAT, Asiwaju Mandate Group (AMG), PBAT Continuity Project (PCP) and Progressive Network for Tinubu (PNT). Most of these groups were formed by Tunji-Ojo through his political associates and followers and there is no doubt that they are part of his political structures that cut across all the 203 wards in the state.
For the Grassroots Movement for Tinubu (GMT), the group has consistently occupied the media space, exploring all available categories of information disseminating platforms to engage the people of the state on breakthroughs recorded by the President’s administration.
At the moment, Ondo State is awash by billboards, sign posts, radio, television and newspapers adverts highlighting achievements of the President. The strategy employed by this group would tempt any political strategist to believe that it is powered by emerging political strategists, who could appropriately be described as “pentecostal politicians.”
The group is familiar with the people’s challenges and expectations and olving or ameliorating these challenges has been the preoccupation of this group as it rolls out and continue to implement direct impactful initiatives targeted at the people who truly desire them. For those with health challenges, including eye defect, the ‘Jingi Asiwaju Medical Outreach’ has provided free healthcare services to thousands of residents across all the federal constituencies in the state.
The Sunshine Grassroots Network (SGN) that has new defectors to APC is led by Dayo Awude, the Labour Party deputy governorship candidate in the 2024 election in the state. They are mainly former members of Labour Party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), who defected to APC.
It is observed that they are still recruiting more people into the group, particularly from their former parties, to support President Tinubu in the 2027 election. They had organised two major defection programmes during which Kennedy Ikantu Peretei, the immediate past Publicity Secretary of PDP, led many PDP members to join APC. The SGN has wooed members of the Non Indigenes Association (NIA) into the fold as well.
The group is also wooing former Governor Olusegun Mimiko to join its fold. For the recently launched Tinubu Support Group (TSG), headed by Prince Ademola Adegoroye a former Minister of Transportation, the group has the backing of Governor Aiyedatiwa as those loyal to him are its members. The governor is also the grand patron of the group in the state. The group has been launched at the local government level.
The PBAT Continuity Project (PCP), on its part, has a former Chief Staff in the state and younger brother of late Governor Olusegun Agagu, Pastor Femi Agagu as its director-general. Since the launch of the group, its leaders have been mobilizing support for the reelection of President Tinubu. Another group, Progressive Network for Tinubu (PNT), is led by Pastor Olumide Obadele. The group has brought the Action Alliance (AA) into the fold of APC.
The AA has collapsed its entire structure into the ruling party and has since been mobilizing support for the reelection of the President. Other groups including BTO for PBAT Support Group, and PBAT Mandate Elders Forum are also working towards assuring a smooth sail for President Tinubu in the next general election. The groups have been carrying out one activity or the other to galvanize support for Tinubu.
For instance, 2,000 elderly residents across the state have benefitted from the PBAT medicare programme, a comprehensive medical support initiated by PBAT Elders Forum. Chairman of the PBAT Mandate Elders Forum, Chief Erastus Akeju, said the initiative was a product of extensive deliberations within the elders’ forum, designed to enhance the health, dignity, and lifespan of senior members of the ruling party.
Akeju, a former Commissioner for Works in Ondo State added that while the programme was fully funded by TunjiOjo, its implementation owed much to the dedication and organisational strength of Chief Nimbe Tawose.
Describing the project as a reflection of the minister’s deep humanitarian commitment and unwavering loyalty to the reelection bid of President Tinubu, Akeju noted that the gesture reinforces APC’s enduring culture of honouring those whose sacrifices helped build the party. “Our elders are the foundation upon which our victories stand. Their sacrifices, wisdom, and endurance shaped our journey.
It is therefore both a moral duty and a political responsibility to prioritize their health and dignity,” Akeju said, commending Tunji-Ojo for translating compassion into action through initiatives that directly impact lives. In his remarks, Secretary of the PBAT Mandate Elders Forum, Chief Ebenezer Alabi, disclosed that a monitoring team had been set up to ensure transparency, efficiency, and uninterrupted delivery of the medicare services.
The facilitator of the programme, Hon. Ademola Ijabiyi, urged beneficiaries and party members not to take the minister’s interest in elder welfare for granted. Ijabiyi cited the monthly elders’ meetings, job opportunities facilitated by the minister and various development projects across Ondo State as evidence of his commitment to humanity. Apart from TSG, investigation revealed that the Interior Minister is behind no fewer than six among these support groups in the state preparing the way for Tinubu.
Political analysts described as apt, his decision to ush out multiple groups to gather people for the President. They also noted that the strategy is meant to ensure no one is left out in the move to prepare for who gets the people’s mandate in the 2027 presidential election. One of them said if someone is not at home with the leadership of a particular group, such person has the opportunity to join another one.
Pundits, who spoke on the development, noted that it would be easier for these groups to sell their candidate to the people who are within their folds without campaigning, which will place the candidate in a better position above other candidates when the election season comes. One of the analysts disclosed that the current approach adopted is unprecedented in the state.
He said in the past, support groups usually emerged from political parties and members of such groups are usually party members only. According to him, such support groups did not have designed programmes for members and outsiders. Their major focus was supporting a particular aspirant or candidate, who is usually the sponsor of such group. But Tunji-Ojo is not contesting any elective positions in the 2027 election in the state but rather championing the course of President Tinubu.
The pundit stated that the issue of sponsorship also makes the current support groups unique in the sense that President Tinubu knows nothing about their creation and funding. However, in what appears to be a counter-move against Tunji-Ojo growing influence, leaders of APC in Ondo South have unanimously endorsed President Tinubu’s re-election bid. The leaders include commissioners from the six local governments that make up the senatorial district, members of the state House of Assembly, party chairmen, local government chairmen, special advisers and senatorial leaders of the party in the zone.
Ina resolution endorsing the President at a congress organised by APC at Government Field in Ore, Odigbo Local Government Area of the state, the political leaders stated that they were impressed by the performance of President Tinubu within the two years he took over the governance of the country
. The resolution read by the APC the chairman in the senatorial district, Prof. Simidele Odimayo, stated that the stakeholders’ meeting was necessary to drum up support for the reelection of President Tinubu and to pass a vote of confidence in Governor Aiyedatiwa as the leader of the party in the state.
Odimayo said the stakeholders’ meeting afforded the commissioners from the zone the opportunity to inform party members about the achievements of Aiyedatiwa in their respective ministries. Other speakers, including Hon Jide Akinfe, Chairman of Irele Local government, and Taiwo Adegoroye of Odigbo council area, said the leadership of the party is ready to work for the victory of the APC in the 2027 elections just as they did in the November 16 governorship election of Governor Aiyedatiwa. Similarly, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Strategic Communications, Hon. Allen Sowore, said the constitution of the APC is clear on who is the leader of the party in the state, saying there cannot be two leaders of the party at the same time.
