In the build-up to the 2023 presidential election, the South West Agenda for Asiwaju (SWAGA), in conjunction with the CEO of Ilaji Farm, Chief Dotun Sanusi on Saturday took its campaign and vote drive to Oyo State as the duo Mobilise family heads (Mogajis) and community heads (Baales) for actualization of Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidential ambition.
The one-day event held at Ilaji Farms in Ibadan, the state capital, was attended by the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), Oyo State Market Men/women, Agbekoya, Irorun Oodua Group, Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), Late Fredrick Fasheun faction of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), and leaders of various political interest groups.
SWAGA maintained that it is embarking on aggressive grassroots mobilization because it is targeting at least 15 million votes from the six states in the south west geopolitical zone for the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu come 2023, while assuring that Lagos alone will deliver five million votes.
Addressing journalists at the event, the President-General of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), Prince Adetayo Oluyemisi Adeaga said the Olubadan will soon give direction to the Ibadans on the candidature of Bola Tinubu.
Talking about the qualities Ibadan people would be looking out for in the presidential candidate, Adeaga said:
“Ibadan always has a position and we have been watching keenly. What has been your roles, achievements, relationship with, and impacts on the people before? Apart from open or surface generosity, have you actually been intellectually impacting on the people? Have you been fair and humane to us? Do you have something in stock for Ibadan people? Will Ibadan people be well represented in the center as we want a state now, also we don’t have a full-fledged minister that is an Ibadan Indigene, and so on.”
Meanwhile, the national convener of SWAGA, Honourable Oyetunji Ojo, a former member of the House of Representatives, said the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu presidency will bring an end to a lot of challenges facing Nigeria if elected president in 2023.
Speaking earlier while addressing the people at the event, Hon. Oyetunji assured that Tinubu’s presidency will ensure Oyo State gets juicy slots in term of ministerial appointments as well as other important positions that will guarantee adequate representation at the centre. He added, that Tinubu will replicate his approach to governance in Lagos state where there was no ethnic or religious discrimination in making political appointments.
Reacting to the possibility of achieving a 15 million votes for Tinubu from the south west alone, Hon. Oyetunji said, “as you can see for yourselves, this is a mini stadium capacity, with about fifteen thousand persons seated. And you know this is a gathering of Baales and Mogajis, so if you multiply the fifteen thousand by the number of households and compounds represented here, you already know what that translates in term of votes.
“We all know how Ibadan operates politically, once these Baales, Mogajis here have agreed to that in Ibadanland, you know it’s already a done deal and that is the way and manner we are getting down to the grassroots.
“This is election, this is not about party, this is about the people because we want to go there to govern. This is achievable when we use the right political tools, the right methods, and the right approach in reaching our leaders at the grassroots level, and we are very sure we will get that number we are targeting.
“Even their body language is easy to read, about ten thousand of Baales, Mogajis signed a compendium. Their body language is very clear, you could see the representatives of all the Baales in Ibadanland saying it was instructed by the Olubadan of Ibadanland to come to this occasion today to deliver his message, there’s nothing more than that, it is one hundred percent.”
Also while speaking with journalists at the event, the National Secretary of SWAGA, Hon. Bosun Oladele said the message to the people in the South West Nigeria remains clear, stressing that it is a march towards fifteen million votes from the region for Bola Tinubu.
“As you can see here today, what has happened is an endorsement by the Kabiyesis, the Baales, the Mogajis who are family heads in the whole of Ibadanland, endorsement by the Agbekoyas, the Fredrick Fasheun faction of the OPC, by the Irorun Oodua, by non indigenes represented here, what else can we say? It is the mark of acceptability and new begining, come 2023, Asiwaju will be our president by the grace of God”
Speaking earlier, Chief Dotun Sanusi, the CEO of Ilaji Farms, the venue of the event, urged the people to disregard the faith issue attached to the Tinubu/Shettima presidential campaign, stressing that nobody is better than Tinubu among all the contenders.
“I have never received a government contract before, neither have I collected anything from anybody. They may call us militants, if they call us militants because of the actualization of Tunubu’s presidency then, so be it but please, take this message down to the very grassroots at every corner of the state that the only person I, Dotun Sanusi can personally vouch for, to end our suffering in Ibadanland and Oyo state as a whole, is Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.”
Other political interest groups and stakeholders present at the event, in their separate remarks and submissions, vowed to support their own son who is the only Yoruba in the race, and to deliver bloc votes for Bola Tinubu come 2023.