Niger Delta heavyweight mobilises northern grassroots support as Katsina governor declares state firmly behind Tinubu
High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, has taken the campaign for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election in 2027 to Katsina State, urging residents to reciprocate what he described as the President’s confidence and inclusion of Katsina people in his administration.
Tompolo, who is the Grand Patron of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, spoke through the Managing Director of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, High Chief Kestin Ebimorbowe Pondi, during the inauguration of the movement’s Katsina State chapter.
The campaign received a major political boost from Katsina State Governor Dikko Umar Radda, who declared that the state would support Tinubu and predicted a landslide victory for the President in the 2027 election.
Tompolo described the relationship between Tinubu and Katsina as one based on “trust, confidence and inclusion,” arguing that the number of Katsina indigenes occupying strategic positions under the Tinubu administration demonstrated the President’s recognition of the state beyond its electoral value.
He cited several appointments, including Ibrahim Kabir Masari as Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs; Muttaqa Rabe Darma as Minister of Housing and Urban Development; Hannatu Musa Musawa as Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy; and Idris Muhammed Bugaje as Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education.
Others mentioned were Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria; Senator Ibrahim Ida, Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission; former Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema, Chairman of the Federal Capital Development Authority; former Governor Aminu Bello Masari, Chairman of the TETFund Board of Trustees; and Senator Kabir Abdullahi Barkiya, Chairman of the Nigerian Agricultural Land Development Authority.
Tompolo said the appointments were not merely ceremonial but represented positions of national responsibility and influence.
“These are not ceremonial appointments. They are positions of responsibility, authority and national consequence,” he said.
He urged Katsina residents to support Tinubu in 2027, saying the state had an opportunity to return the confidence allegedly shown to it by the Federal Government.
Tompolo also connected the political relationship between Tinubu and Katsina to the events that led to the emergence of the late President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential election.
He called on members of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement to take the campaign directly to voters across wards, communities, markets and households.
“As we approach 2027, Katsina has an opportunity to reciprocate that confidence,” he said, urging campaigners to move “from door to door, from ward to ward, from community to community, from market to market, from household to household.”
The Niger Delta businessman also praised aspects of the Federal Government’s economic reforms, particularly the push for greater financial autonomy for local governments.
According to him, stronger financial capacity at the grassroots could translate into better roads, schools, primary healthcare, water supply, sanitation facilities and markets.
He therefore urged Katsina residents to support what he described as continuity, stability and progress under the Tinubu administration.
“Katsina has been trusted. Let Katsina return that trust. Katsina has been recognised. Let Katsina recognise that confidence,” he said.
Speaking at the event, Governor Radda described Katsina as a stronghold of the All Progressives Congress and expressed confidence that the state would deliver massive support for Tinubu in 2027.
“Katsina State is an APC state. Katsina State is a state where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Insha Allah, will have a landslide victory in Katsina State,” Radda declared.
The governor also highlighted the historical political relationship between Tinubu and prominent figures from Katsina, including the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Radda commended Tompolo for choosing Katsina as the first state for the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement’s mobilisation initiative.
He linked the relationship between Katsina and the Niger Delta to the administration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, particularly the establishment of the Presidential Amnesty Programme for former militants in the Niger Delta.
Radda also credited Tinubu’s reforms with giving state governments greater resources and opportunities to execute development projects.
“The President came with a lot of reforms which enabled the state governors to do a lot of good work for the people of our dear states,” he said.
The governor assured Tinubu that Katsina would not abandon him ahead of the 2027 election.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I want you to be rest assured that Katsina State is your state and we will not let you down,” Radda said.
Earlier, the National Coordinator of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, Sunday Asuku, said the organisation was created to mobilise grassroots support for Tinubu’s re-election.
He said the movement would rely on direct engagement with voters rather than limiting its activities to major political rallies.
“Every door matters and everybody in Katsina matters,” Asuku said.
He urged coordinators across the state’s 34 local government areas to take the campaign to communities and villages while explaining the administration’s policies and achievements.
The Katsina State Coordinator, Alhaji Faisal Kaita, also pledged the commitment of the movement’s local government coordinators to the re-election campaign.
The event ended with the presentation of campaign vehicles and other mobilisation equipment to coordinators across the local government areas.
With the 2027 presidential election approaching, the Katsina mobilisation signals an early effort by Tinubu supporters to consolidate grassroots support in one of northern Nigeria’s politically influential states.
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