…Ododo rallies grassroots support for President’s re-election
High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, has donated 25 vehicles to the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement in Kogi State to boost grassroots mobilisation for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
Tompolo, the movement’s Grand Patron, announced the donation through the Managing Director of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, Kestin Pondi, at the inauguration of the group’s Kogi State structure in Lokoja on Monday.
He urged Nigerians to give Tinubu another four years, arguing that the President’s economic reforms, including the removal of petrol subsidy, direct allocation of funds to local governments and the opening of the electricity sector to greater state participation, deserved continued support.
According to him, the reforms had increased the resources available to state governments to pay salaries and pensions and execute development projects.
“If somebody has done so much for you, what do you do for the person? You give him more,” Pondi said on behalf of Tompolo.
He urged members of the movement to take the re-election campaign to homes, workplaces, churches, markets and communities, stressing the need for sustained engagement with voters ahead of the 2027 presidential poll.
Tompolo acknowledged that the reforms had created difficulties for Nigerians but maintained that the country would eventually benefit from them if citizens remained patient.
Speaking at the event, Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo, commended Tompolo for providing the vehicles, describing them as a boost to the movement’s grassroots mobilisation efforts.
He, however, cautioned that vehicles alone would not guarantee electoral victory, insisting that organisation and direct engagement with voters were critical.
“Vehicles do not win elections, but people win elections, conventions win elections and organisations win elections,” Ododo said.
The governor charged the movement’s coordinators to explain government policies and projects to residents, listen to their concerns and respond to their questions with facts rather than insults.
Ododo said Tinubu inherited serious economic challenges and had chosen to confront them through reforms, arguing that continuity was necessary to consolidate ongoing development efforts.
He also highlighted projects in Kogi State which he said had received the President’s backing, including the proposed Economic City and Free Trade Zone and the Kogi International Airport project.
Other projects and initiatives he cited included renewed attention to the Abuja-Lokoja-Benin Expressway, university development, primary healthcare centres, road construction, support for farmers and empowerment programmes for youths and women.
According to the governor, improved infrastructure, security and a business-friendly environment would help attract investments, create jobs and improve living standards.
He also thanked Tinubu for supporting security operations against criminality and backing efforts to establish state police, arguing that improved security would enable farmers to return to their farms and businesses to operate without fear.
Ododo pledged to lead the mobilisation campaign in Kogi State and urged members of the movement to engage communities peacefully and persuade voters through their conduct and message.
Earlier, the National Coordinator of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, Sunday Asuku, appealed to residents, youths, students and farmers to support Tinubu’s re-election.
Asuku described the President’s reforms as necessary for national development and called for continuity in the implementation of the administration’s policies.
He also cited the administration’s engagement with organised labour and efforts to avert strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities as reasons Nigerians should support Tinubu.
The coordinator urged members to take the campaign beyond political gatherings by reaching voters from door to door, city to city and settlement to settlement.
