By Dr Debo Akinbami

Sir: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has unveiled his catalogue for the 2027 presidential campaign.

He is the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the ruling party. In the list revealed, the president made public the men who shall man diverse portfolios for him in the imminent election. Members of the team released are men with muscles; army of muscular strikers with the right energies and experience.

The governors sit atop the sub-national league. The President designed it as such as a master chess player. President Tinubu is versed enough. He was a two-term governor in the complex Lagos. He understands the enormity of the influence and resources at the disposal of an incumbent governor. Not ready to take chances, President Tinubu gave his jobs to consequential players. And, now, the die is cast.

Meanwhile, the list, as it were, delivers divergent impressions at the sub-federal layer. It delivered an instructive statement to Ondo fold and settled a stubborn dust that has ravaged itself for sometime; putting paid to the needless question about who should command the president’s reelection contest. The question was not just unnecessary. It was uncharitable and unfortunate; the sort that should not have arisen in the first place.

Lackeys who are bent on bloating the minister’s lean ego raised the wrong question. They feed their feeder with the rotten feast so that his belly bears bad poisons. After a fatten feed, a minister dared to arrogate unto himself the powers of a chief executive. He inflicted himself with arrogance and reached out for what hangs above his height. But the presidential list punctured the bad ego.

At this rate, the Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, takes the driver’s seat. He can now launch his arsenal to crush the President’s opposition in Ondo. With Aiyedatiwa atop the train, Tinubu’s haters are in for a bitter bite. The governor can be trusted to activate the party’s entire structure in favour of the President. Beforehand, he had declared Ondo for Tinubu. He had actuated strategic buttons and allotted roles for winning.

To attain a landslide win for President Tinubu, the governor has put so much into making the party healthy, happy and organic for the presidential election. The governor tells who cares, how the president’s reforms have elevated the status of Ondo. The people, in turn, applaud the governor’s sterling achievements as complementary attractions that make the president’s candidature even more endearing.

Setting forth to win, all hands should be on deck. The governor, who fittingly fathers all in the party, has enough room for all. Small wonder he had described President Tinubu’s reelection as Ondo State’s project while calling on all interests to align to this effect. Sure, it is not a time to be distracted by the minister’s antics. Not a time to indulge in any self deceit whatsoever. 

The season demands that all party men and women should place the president’s reelection business above ulterior intent. Those who feed from urging the minister to prematurely seek the governor’s seat should allow him to breathe, at least for now. When the people have given President Tinubu the massive votes that he deserves, they can return to review his suitability for the ambition that blindfolds.

In the meantime, the state should submit to the president’s interest as expressed in the list. President Tinubu’s reelection should matter more to every genuine party person. The single-eyed ambition to return Tinubu as President, which Aiyedatiwa has loudly declared, should be given the requisite support and cooperation by all. The governor should not leave anyone behind, including the minister who wanders.

Dr Debo Akinbami is Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Ondo State on Public Communication.