Tompolo takes Tinubu re-election push to Ogun, donates 26 campaign vehicles

A support group backing President Bola Tinubu's 2027 re-election has opened a branch in Ogun State, with its patron urging residents to turn out for the president and promising to work with other groups to deliver the state for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Government Ekpemupolo, widely known as Tompolo, is grand patron of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement. He spoke in Abeokuta on Friday at the launch of the movement's Ogun chapter, where 26 campaign vehicles and other mobilisation materials were handed over, according to the three outlets that covered the event.

Tompolo did not attend in person. He was represented by Kestin Pondi, managing director of Tantita Security Services.

What Tompolo said

In remarks read on his behalf, Tompolo argued that the president's economic policies are bringing investors back, steadying the naira and ending the long fuel queues that once kept motorists waiting at filling stations. He also pointed to infrastructure spending and the payment of salaries and pensions.

He acknowledged the reforms have been hard on Nigerians, comparing the pain to labour before childbirth, and asked for patience. "Every developed country has gone through this path Tinubu is taking us through and came out stronger," he said.

He told the gathering to spread the message that Tinubu should return to Aso Rock, and said the movement would join forces with other campaign groups to win at every level in 2027.

Ogun's warning against complacency

Governor Dapo Abiodun, represented by his deputy, Noimot Salako-Oyedele, thanked the movement and said the state had benefited from the administration's policies. But she cautioned supporters against assuming the result is settled.

"No matter how confident we are, we have to come out and vote," she said, adding that the deal "can only be done at the polling booth."

Senator Solomon Adeola, the APC's governorship candidate in the state, said the president had changed the country's story and that the state had set a target of at least two million votes for him. The movement's national coordinator, Sunday Asuku, urged voters not to be swayed by opposition parties, which he said have nothing better to offer.

The event is one of the early moves in what is shaping up as a long campaign ahead of the 2027 general elections. For ordinary Nigerians, the arguments on display — fuel supply, the exchange rate, salaries and pensions — are the same cost-of-living issues that dominate household budgets.

The claims made at the rally are the campaign's own account of the economy; the outlets did not independently verify them.

What happens next

The movement says it will keep opening state chapters and working with other pro-Tinubu groups. Ogun's governorship and other races will be decided alongside the presidential election in 2027.