Follow Us on Google
• Transporters target 20m votes, unveil structures across 36 states, FCT •Door-to-door campaign kicks off in Ondo
• Ex-ANPP bloc backs President, demands 2031 succession
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja and Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
President Bola Tinubu’s re-election machinery is gathering momentum across the country, with transport operators targeting at least 20 million votes, a grassroots door-to-door campaign taking off in Ondo State and former members of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the All Progressives Congress (APC) throwing their weight behind the President — but demanding the presidency for their bloc in 2031.
The separate mobilisation efforts, unveiled in Abuja and Akure, signal an early push by support groups to build structures around the Tinubu-Shettima ticket ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Transporters for Tinubu/Shettima 2027 (TFT 2027) unveiled its National Working Committee and structures across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with plans to extend its network to all 774 local government areas and grassroots political units.
In Ondo, another support organisation, Battalions for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, commenced a door-to-door and house-to-house campaign, saying it would take the President’s re-election message to towns and villages across the state’s 18 local government areas.
At the same time, the Association of Former ANPP Members in APC pledged “maximum support” for Tinubu in 2027, but served early notice that it expects the President to back a candidate from its bloc to succeed him in 2031.
Vice President, Kashim Shettima, while inaugurating the transporters’ nationwide structure at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, cautioned supporters against allowing the quest for votes to degenerate into intimidation, misinformation or violence. “No political objective is improved by disorder, and no democratic process is strengthened by fear,” Shettima said.
Represented by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Hadeija, he said the extensive reach of transport operators placed a responsibility on them to promote peaceful and responsible political participation. “As you set out for this nationwide assignment, I appeal to each of you to remember that political participation places an obligation on those who organise others.”
Shettima said elections should not be regarded as warfare but as a contest in which Nigerians must be allowed to freely decide who governs them.
“Nigeria’s future must be argued in the open, tested by citizens and decided through credible elections,” he added.
•Transporters target 20m votes
Technical Adviser on Transportation, Logistics and Innovation in the Office of the Vice President, Segun Obayendo, said TFT 2027 was established to convert the numerical strength and nationwide reach of transport operators into an organised political force.
According to him, the group initially projected that it could mobilise about eight million votes but raised the target substantially after expanding its structure.
“We are looking at over 20 million as the bottom line,” Obayendo declared. He said transport operators had supported governments over the years but largely acted independently, thereby failing to maximise their collective political strength.
“The transporters you are seeing today are not the transporters of yesteryears. They were working individually, supporting every government of the day, but because they were working individually, they hardly got the full-blown dividend of democracy. But now we have come together. This is the game changer,” he said.
Obayendo said the organisation would operate from the national level down to the 36 states, FCT, 774 local government areas and grassroots political units.
It is also developing a digital membership database to identify and coordinate transport operators nationwide.
“We started putting our structures together and realised that politics without structure is labour without coordination. Without structure, it is as good as praying for the wind or walking into the dark,” he said.
Deputy National Organising Secretary of the APC, Emeka Okafor, welcomed the initiative and urged members to deploy their network to mobilise support for Tinubu and other APC candidates in 2027.
•Ondo takes campaign to doorsteps
As the transporters rolled out their national machinery in Abuja, the Battalions for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu began a grassroots campaign in Ondo State, promising to take the President’s re-election message directly to homes.
The campaign, sponsored by Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, and led by the group’s Commander, Temitope Iwagun, brought together APC members and supporters from the 18 local government areas of the state.
Iwagun said the organisation would move into villages, towns and communities to canvass support for Tinubu.
According to her, the strategy reflects the group’s conviction that elections are ultimately won through sustained engagement with voters at the grassroots.
“We are not supporting President Tinubu just because he is a politician, but because he is doing well. We are showing our capacity.
“We want to show them that we know that to demonstrate capacity in politics, you must make sure that you have grassroots mobilisation. And that is what we are replicating,” she said. Iwagun said the group decided to support Tinubu because it believed the administration’s reforms were beginning to make an impact across sectors.
She also criticised the reported proposal by the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to restore fuel subsidy, insisting that the subsidy removal policy had come to stay.
Secretary-General of the Asiwaju Mandate Group, Oladele Olugbemi, urged members to intensify the mobilisation and channel their efforts towards securing continuity for the Tinubu administration.
He argued that another four-year mandate would enable the President to consolidate ongoing programmes and reforms.
•Ex-ANPP bloc backs Tinubu, eyes 2031
Beyond the immediate battle for 2027, however, former ANPP members within the APC are already looking towards the succession contest four years later.
The Association of Former ANPP Members in APC said it would mobilise its members nationwide for Tinubu but demanded that the President support a candidate from the bloc to succeed him in 2031.
The position was contained in a communique signed by the association’s National Coordinator, Prof. Vitalis Orikeze Ajumbe, after a meeting in Abuja.
The group said Tinubu had responded positively to some of its previous demands, describing him as a “listening father of the nation.”
It particularly welcomed the retention of Vice President Shettima, whom it regards as one of the leaders of the former ANPP bloc, as Tinubu’s running mate.
The group also hailed the appointment of Senator Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari as Director-General of Tinubu’s 2027 Presidential Campaign Council and Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, as Deputy Director one, North.
Former ANPP members had at their November 2025 meeting demanded greater inclusion in government through appointments as ministers, ambassadors, board chairmen and heads of government agencies.
They had also demanded that the vice-presidential position remain with their bloc and that one of their members be supported for the presidency in 2031.
The association anchored its succession demand on the political blocs that came together to form the APC.
It argued that the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) produced former President Muhammadu Buhari, who occupied the presidency for eight years, while the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) bloc currently occupies the position through Tinubu.
“Fairness and equity demand that our President should hand over power to the ANPP bloc when his tenure expires in 2031,” it said.
The group renewed its demand for greater representation in federal appointments while promising to work for APC’s victory in 2027.
•Shettima defends reforms
Meanwhile, Shettima said the administration’s investment in transportation was part of a wider effort to improve economic productivity and connectivity.
He listed highways, rail corridors, ports, clean mobility and logistics infrastructure among areas receiving attention. “The administration has treated connectivity as an economic necessity,” he said.
Obayendo also defended the government’s transition to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), saying expansion of the CNG value chain and deployment of additional gas-powered buses would create economic opportunities and help reduce transportation costs.
While acknowledging the difficulties that followed petrol subsidy removal, he maintained that the previous arrangement was unsustainable. “Our resources are not elastic,” he said.
The transporters were subsequently directed to return to their states and begin implementation of the grassroots mobilisation strategy, while the Ondo group said its house-to-house campaign would spread across the state’s 18 local government areas as the battle for 2027 gathers pace.
