2027: Turn support into votes, Remi Tinubu urges Cross River APC women

Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has urged women of the All Progressives Congress in Cross River State to intensify grassroots mobilisation and work towards securing votes for the party in the 2027 general elections.

Tinubu urged the women to demonstrate their commitment through door-to-door campaigns, market outreaches, church gatherings and prayer meetings, stressing that political support must translate into votes at polling units.

The First Lady made the call at an APC women’s strategic stakeholders’ meeting held in Calabar on Sunday, where she also urged members to embrace unity, love and reconciliation ahead of the elections.

This was disclosed in a statement released by the party and made available to PUNCH Online on Wednesday.

Speaking alongside the Co-Director of Women Mobilisation of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Dr Betta Edu, Tinubu challenged the women to organise their supporters at the grassroots and ensure effective mobilisation in their respective communities.

“Go back to your polling units and gather your people, beginning with your women. Let them begin to canvass, door to door, Church to Church, prayer meeting to prayer meeting, market to market, by your result we will know who is who,” she said.

She urged party members to put aside their differences and work towards a common electoral goal, calling on them to mobilise support for the APC at all levels.

“We must vote APC top to bottom. Don’t confuse our voters. Everyone should vote for APC, double your mobilisation at this critical time, please,” she said.

Tinubu assured the women of the party leadership’s support, adding that their performance at the grassroots would be an important measure of their commitment.

The meeting was organised by the Women Mobilisation Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council to strengthen the party’s grassroots structures in Cross River State ahead of the 2027 elections.

Also speaking, the wife of the Cross River State Governor, Bishop Eyoanwan Otu, called on APC women to embrace unity and forgive one another in the interest of the party.

She urged them to set aside personal grievances and remain committed to their responsibilities, regardless of whether their efforts received public recognition.

“Whatever it is that has been bothering us, whatever we think has been our pain, let’s bury the hatchet and move on,” she said.

Otu encouraged the women to remain consistent in their efforts, saying their commitment to doing what was right would eventually produce results.

“Whether they like it or not, whether they love you or not, whether they like your face or not, just keep doing what you’re doing. Do the right thing. Consistency will produce the result,” she added.

The governor’s wife also highlighted her humanitarian interventions in the health sector, disclosing that her medical outreach programme had recorded 12 editions in three years, with more than 2,000 surgeries conducted.

She said the interventions were aimed at addressing healthcare needs among vulnerable residents and complementing the state government’s efforts in service delivery.

“Health is wealth. Since the governor cannot be everywhere, while he is occupied by governance, administration, and upgraded structural development, there must be somebody to bridge the gap,” she said.

Otu added that her interventions were motivated by a desire to improve the welfare of residents rather than the expectation of public recognition.

She further urged the women to take the party’s message to their communities, wards, polling units, churches and places of business, while sustaining its existing political structures ahead of the elections.

The meeting also featured an empowerment programme for women and attracted the wife of the Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, female lawmakers, commissioners, local government chairmen and vice-chairmen, councillors, political appointees, female candidates and other women stakeholders from the state’s 18 local government areas.

The participants also discussed strategies for strengthening the party’s presence at polling units, wards and local government areas ahead of the 2027 elections.

Cross River is among the states where the APC is strengthening its grassroots structures ahead of the 2027 elections.

The party is seeking to consolidate its position in the state following Otu’s emergence as governor in 2023.