President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s daughter and Iyaloja-General of Nigeria Mrs Mujidat Folasade Tinubu-Ojo has launched a nationwide political mobilisation movement targeting 10 million votes for the President and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 elections.
The Iyaloja General Movement (IGM) for Renewed Hope Initiatives was inaugurated on Thursday at Eagle Square Abuja drawing thousands of market leaders and supporters.
Addressing the gathering Tinubu-Ojo said the movement had established structures across the 36 states local government areas and wards to mobilise market women traders and other grassroots voters for the President’s re-election.
She described market women and men as a formidable voting bloc saying their numbers and economic contribution made them critical stakeholders in the electoral process.
‘What we are putting together as market leaders is to encourage our people and sensitise them about the next election and in which direction they should vote’ she said.
Tinubu-Ojo urged Nigerians to support her father’s administration arguing that a change of government could disrupt its economic policies and reverse the progress she said was being recorded.
She specifically cautioned against supporting Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi claiming their emergence would set the country back.
Defending the administration’s reforms she acknowledged the hardship Nigerians were experiencing but maintained that the policies would produce lasting economic benefits.
‘What he is doing right now is like a pregnant woman going through labour. We are labouring now. Almost all Nigerians are feeling what he is doing now. The policies are painful but the end result will justify the means’ she said.
She argued that the President needed another term to consolidate the reforms and ensure Nigerians benefited fully from them.
‘If anyone comes now they will not understand what the President is doing and it will be like starting from square one. You hear one of them saying he will reverse the subsidy. We don’t need to go backwards’ she said.
Tinubu-Ojo also defended the removal of the fuel subsidy saying the additional revenue available to the three tiers of government had supported project execution and the discharge of obligations including workers’ salaries.
The Director-General of IGM Dr Nasiru Ladan said more than 2500 support groups had joined the movement with other organisations indicating interest.
He said the groups had been integrated into its organisational structure and that the organisation was building a database of supporters across states and local government areas.
‘We have just started; it was launched today and we have machinery in motion in all the states local governments up to ward level’ he said.
Ladan explained that the movement’s strategy was to convert its grassroots presence into votes for the APC in 2027.
According to him it plans to deploy 10 facilitators to each polling unit with each facilitator expected to mobilise 100 voters.
He said the arrangement would help deliver the movement’s target of 10 million votes although he did not provide a detailed breakdown of how the target would be measured or independently verified.
Ladan described market women and men as central to the mobilisation effort expressing confidence that greater awareness of the administration’s policies and programmes would strengthen support for the President.
The Lagos State Director-General of the movement Barrister Adejumbo Omofumilewa described the inauguration as a mini-rally for Tinubu ahead of the elections.
He expressed confidence that the APC would improve its performance in Lagos in the 2023 presidential election saying the the party had addressed the factors behind its defeat in the state.
Omofumilewa attributed that outcome to an inadequate assessment of the political situation describing the experience as a betrayal.
‘What happened in 2023 that made our candidate lose the presidential election in Lagos State is already taken care of because now everybody is following him’ he said.
He dismissed suggestions that the opposition could mount a serious challenge in Lagos maintaining that the APC had the political presence and organisational strength to win.
‘Obi is not a threat nor is any party a threat in Lagos State’ he said. ‘We are in charge.’