2027: Tinubu’s daughter rallies market leaders for father’s re-election

President Bola Tinubu’s daughter and Iyaloja-General of Nigeria, Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, has launched a political support movement to mobilise market women, traders and other informal sector workers for her father’s re-election in 2027.

The movement, Iyaloja General Movement for Renewed Hope Initiatives, was inaugurated on Thursday at Eagle Square, Abuja, with its leadership setting a target of 10 million votes for the All Progressives Congress in the 2027 general elections.

Speaking at the event, Tinubu-Ojo said the movement would sensitise market leaders and members of the informal sector about the forthcoming elections and encourage them to support the President’s re-election for effective leadership.

She described traders and market leaders as a formidable voting bloc, arguing that their influence at the grassroots made them critical to the electoral fortunes of political parties.

“As a market leader, my role is to encourage our people and sensitise them about the next election and which direction they should follow, so that they will not derail. That is why I inaugurated my own movement, the Iyaloja General Movement.

“We know who is who and who is doing well, and whom we want to lead us in Nigeria. We are in the informal sector and form part of the grassroots. When you are talking about the electorate, the market leaders vote and monitor the process. We are powerful. The politicians know that they cannot joke with us. So, the informal sector drives the economy of any nation.

“We have a strong political structure that includes state coordinators, local government coordinators, the secretary and so on,” she said.

Tinubu-Ojo defended her father’s economic policies, acknowledging that they had caused hardship but insisting that Nigerians needed to give the administration more time to deliver the expected benefits.

She said, “President Tinubu has done well. He has policies that will enhance the country and make us do well again. What he is doing right now is like a pregnant woman going into labour. Almost all Nigerians are feeling what he is doing right now. The policies are painful, but the result will justify the pain.

“That is why we don’t want any other person who will drive us back. If we vote for somebody else, he will come up with his own idea. In fact, one of these presidential candidates has said he is going to return the fuel subsidy. Already, we can see the impact we have achieved since the removal of the fuel subsidy. Workers are getting their salaries paid on time, and several infrastructure are now in place.

“So, we just want President Tinubu to continue so that all the results we are experiencing now will not go down the drain. I understand everybody cannot like him. We are all entitled to our own opinion. But we want the best for the country. Even if you travel abroad, you will always be a second-class citizen wherever you travel,” she said.

The Director-General of the movement, Dr Nasiru Ladan, said it had attracted about 2,500 support groups, with more organisations indicating interest in joining.

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Ladan said the groups had been incorporated into the movement’s structure, adding that it was building a database of supporters across states and local government areas.

“We have just started; it has been launched today, and we have machinery in motion in all the states, local governments up to ward level,” he said.

He said the movement planned to use its grassroots network to translate its mobilisation efforts into votes for the APC in the next general elections.

According to him, the organisation intends to deploy 10 facilitators to each polling unit, with each facilitator expected to mobilise 100 voters.

In a separate interview at the event, the Lagos State Director-General of the movement, Adejumbo Omofumilewa, described the inauguration as a mini-rally to mobilise support for the President ahead of the 2027 election.

Omofumilewa expressed optimism that the APC would improve on its performance in Lagos State, where Tinubu lost the state in the 2023 presidential election to the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi.

He attributed the outcome partly to the ruling party’s failure to adequately assess the political situation in the state before the election, 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.

Earlier in his speech, Akwa Ibom Coordinator of the Iyaloja General Movement, Obong Achibong, said the movement had gained widespread acceptance in the state.

Achibong also expressed confidence that market leaders would deliver increased votes for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.

He said, “In Akwa Ibom, the movement has been accepted by our people, and it has come to stay. With this level of acceptance, it is certain that by 2027, our state will give more than 80 votes to President Bola Tinubu.

“So, we are confidently telling Tinubu to sleep and not bother to campaign because of the great work our governor is doing in Akwa Ibom and what the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, is doing at the Senate.”