Get Guardian on Google• Yari seeks 90% support as Oshiomhole, Yilwatda highlight government’s reforms
• Oyebanji assures Tinubu of total victory
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has set a target of at least 800,000 votes for President Bola Tinubu in Ekiti State in the January 16, 2027 presidential election, urging party leaders and supporters to intensify grassroots mobilisation to secure his re-election.
Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Senator Abdulaziz Yari, announced the target at the party’s presidential campaign rally in Ado-Ekiti, where he expressed confidence that the state could deliver an overwhelming victory for Tinubu.
Yari recalled that Tinubu secured about 80 per cent of the votes in Ekiti during the 2023 presidential election, insisting that the President’s interventions in infrastructure and others deserved even greater electoral support.
He said that with about 1.08 million registered voters and more than 900,000 Permanent Voter Cards collected in the state, the APC should mobilise to deliver at least 800,000 votes for the President.
He urged Governor Biodun Oyebanji and other political leaders to take the campaign message to the grassroots, stressing that Tinubu had demonstrated commitment to Ekiti’s development.
Earlier, the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, presented the party’s candidates, beginning with Tinubu and extending to its senatorial, House of Representatives and state House of Assembly candidates in Ekiti.
He urged residents to support all APC candidates in the forthcoming elections, stressing that the party needed to maintain control of the Presidency and secure a strong presence in the National Assembly and state legislature.
Yilwatda described Tinubu as a performer and reformer, highlighting the administration’s tax reforms, particularly the exemption of small businesses with yearly turnover below N100 million from tax obligations.
He said the policy was designed to protect small-scale entrepreneurs and low-income earners from unnecessary tax burdens.
Also speaking, former Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, challenged opposition parties to explain what they would do differently if elected, insisting that the Tinubu administration had introduced reforms aimed at repositioning the economy and improving living conditions.
Oshiomhole particularly highlighted the administration’s interventions in education, workers’ welfare, security and industrial development.
He said the expansion of universities and other tertiary institutions, alongside the student loan scheme, had created more opportunities for young Nigerians to acquire education and relevant skills.
The senator further blamed the economic policies of previous administrations, in which opposition figures served, for the collapse of several Nigerian industries, particularly the textile sector.
According to him, reviving local industries and expanding productive capacity remain sustainable ways of tackling unemployment and poverty.
Meanwhile, Vice-President Kashim Shettima has urged the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and other opposition political parties to present their achievements to Nigerians as a basis for seeking their votes during campaigns.
The Vice President also urged Ekiti residents to give Tinubu 90 per cent of their votes in the 2027 presidential election, expressing confidence in the state’s support for the APC.
Shettima, who spoke at the APC campaign rally in Ekiti State, thanked the people for their support in the 2023 presidential election and the recent governorship election, in which Oyebanji secured re-election with 85.7 per cent of the votes.
In his address, Oyebanji said there is nothing standing between Ekiti and Tinubu’s victory, adding that by the grace of God, Ekiti results will be the first to also be announced.
