2027: Only God can stop Tinubu’s re-election – APC chieftain

Alhaji Dr. Moshood Wasiu Abiola, is a well-read, well-travelled chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and an aspirant for Oyo State governorship ticket in the forthcoming 2027 general elections.

Speaking to Daily Sun in Abuja, he attributed his motivation to contest for the ticket to fix the ruins and destruction Governor Seyi Makinde has inflicted on the state with mindless borrowing.

He also spoke on the high chances of President Bola Tinubu enjoying an overwhelming re-election in the 2027 presidential election, taunting that Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi cannot pose any form of threat to him.

What is your mission, why are you indicating interest to aspire to be the governor of Oyo State?

I believe that my state, Oyo, has not been properly governed. I was initially happy when the Governor Seyi Makinde administration started. Quite frankly, he started well, and even though he is in an opposition party, PDP, his two, three years in his first term were wonderful. He did certain things very relevant to the Oyo people.

However, towards the end of his first tenure, he started showing signs of derailment, which has been confirmed in his second tenure. States have been having it very good since 2023 due to the removal of the subsidy. There is no state governor in the country now that is complaining about a lack of funds, unless the governor is just talking to those who don’t know. Oyo State is also a beneficiary of it.

But instead of seeing a resurgence in high implementation of the projects, we have been seeing a significant drop, and regrettably a spike in borrowing, horrendous and needless borrowing. Recently, he did N300 billion. Before then, he took N150 billion; there is another one, 450 million US dollars. He is just borrowing without reason.

These are loans that Oyo State indigenes, our children, will have to pay. The PDP has been criticising the Federal Government for borrowing, yet they refused to focus on their state, like mine, Oyo, where the governor has been borrowing mindlessly. He has funds, but he continued to borrow. There is no justification for it.

As I said earlier, he did very well in the first two years of his first time in government. He worked even in his IGR. But now nothing is happening. People are crying because of the Circular Road project, yet he claims that he is doing fine. It is a big project, but the governor has marred it with so many interests, and he has refused to care about the plight of the people.

We are talking about a 500 metre corridor on the road on both sides. And he is demolishing people’s houses, and giving them N450,000 after the demolition. What is the money for? Is it for the land or the structure? Some are even paid less. It is unfair.

The civil servants love him because he pays them 22nd or 23rd of every month, and that has made a greater portion of the civil service so in love with him, to the point of not paying attention to what is happening in the state.

What is your motivation, what is giving you the confidence that APC will wrest the state from the PDP?

Yes, I know that Oyo is a PDP state, but don’t forget that it is an APC state. Don’t forget that the state was under the APC during Abiola Ajimobi-led administration. My party ought to have continued, but because of certain policies of the then government, which made some people feel that they were anti-people.

That is why they all embrace Makinde of the PDP. He would have won if he were in any other party. People voted for him at that time because they were actually looking for options that time.

I believe strongly that the APC is very strong in my state now. I believe in the unity of the party and if we can continue like that, we will win the state. I also believe that the people of the state have seen the need to reconnect with the centre. The Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President is yielding results.

Yes, the hardship of the first two years was so much but now that we are going to the third year, the results have started coming gradually. I believe by the time the election time will comes in 2027, the results will be very feasible for everybody. There is a need to connect the state to the centre. I believe my people will see the need to bring back the APC to the state.

With heavyweight politicians in the APC in Oyo state indicating interest in contesting, how do you intend to navigate the competition or do you have a godfather?

I don’t have a godfather except the fact that President Bola Tinubu is my mentor. Right from when I left secondary school, travelled to Lagos State, I have been his huge fan. I have been campaigning for him seriously. I am actually the Country Director for the Nigerian diaspora. I campaigned for him for APC in 2014-2015, did that again in 2023, and whether I am on the ballot or not, I will still campaign for him in 2027 because that is my natural habitat.

Having said that, those bigwigs, none of those big names you referred to, are as loyal to the party as I am. I have looked at the books on the list of persons that have indicated interest, but could not see anyone who has credentials in terms of party loyalty and working for the party.

I have been faithful all through since 2014 to date. I have never left the party, and I have been using my money, my intellect, and every of my resources to work for the party without asking the party for anything in return. The records are there.

How do you intend to leverage your name, MK Abiola, to woo the people?

The name comes in two forms, MK Abiola and Ajimobi Abiola, the former governor. I am trying to leverage the name of these two individuals, these two Abiolas. I am the fulfillment of the two in Oyo State.

Although I may not have any biological connection with these two people, I have the same vision as they do in terms of goals, aspirations, hunger for development, and the welfare of our people. We have that in common.

All three of us are progressive-minded. Don’t forget. MK Abiola contested on the platform of the SDP, the progressive party. While NRC then looked more like a conservative party? So ACN was built on the shores of the SDP, and APC is built on the shores of ACN.

We are all progressives, and that is why the people of Oyo will see me as a fulfillment of this truth, those things that they could not do in terms of political aspirations and venturing. I am coming to ensure that this is done.

How are you going to convince people who believe that APC has become synonymous with hunger and hardship, especially the civil servants who have become so sentimentally attached to Makinde and the PDP?

It is very easy because many of our people, our mothers and fathers in the civil service, brothers and sisters, younger ones, in the service must come to the reality that if we don’t stop the PDP government in the state, our great-grandchildren will continue to pay for the debt that Governor Makinde is committing to the state.

It is our state, and the debt is on us. We will pay back no matter how long the period is. It is either we pay back through our IGR or through the federal allocation; one way or the other, we will pay back, or those Chinese, or the foreign borrowers will come one day and occupy us.

They have to see beyond salaries. We have to project into the future more than what is happening now and what will happen tomorrow and after tomorrow. Once they see that I, Moshood Abiola, am coming with prosperity, to stop that pillage of our common patrimony, they will listen.

That is why I am building my campaign manifesto on the principles of Unity, Prosperity, and Security, to unify the state. I want to block the line of division among people in the state. Okeogun, Ogbomosho, and Ibadan have been the lines of division in the state, and I want to bridge them so that we can see ourselves as one family.

I will be establishing my campaign house in Ibadan. We are calling it the Family House. Family House because everybody, regardless of where you come from in the state, once we enter that house, it is ours. It is our family house. We can do anything there. We can sleep, drink, play, dance, and do anything.

These are things that have not been happening in the state. I want to open up the state, agriculture, tourism, and solid minerals, and leverage them. My state is known for trade and commerce; we have many markets like those in Anambra. We will be leveraging on that by turning our mothers and fathers who are petty traders into big-time players.

The name of the game is money, do you have the financial war chest needed to aspire for governor?

I know quite well that it will require money. First, I am not a poor man. I can feed myself. And to date, what we have done in the state in terms of consultation, campaigning, we did it ourselves. Nobody is financing us. But I also know that it will come to a point where people, both within and outside the state, will see what we are bringing into the state, and surely volunteer.

If they support, fine; if they don’t come along, God Almighty, who started this journey for us and who has been financing us, will surely give us all the funds we will need.

Are you saying that you will bank on volunteers and divine intervention to sponsor your campaign?

What I said is that those who believe in our dreams and aspirations and feel like supporting can do so. Anywhere in the world, it is obtainable; people donate funds for aspirants. Even President Trump, who is a billionaire, still benefited from crowdfunding. During his election, there were people who donated to him. People also donated to President Tinubu, a billionaire. They did so because they believe in his dreams for Nigeria.

I am not a billionaire. I am just a man struggling to make a living. Those who believe in the goals will surely come, and if they come, we welcome them; if they don’t, we see how far we can go without them.

Are you among the APC members desperate to ensure Nigeria becomes a one-party state?

No, I am not. APC is not turning Nigeria into a one-party state. Let me remind you what my mentor, my principal, President Tinubu once said, ‘I will not help my opposition to build their house. I will not, but I will not put asunder in their house. If they can sort themselves out, fine and good; they are welcome, but if they engage in self-destructive acts and tendencies, it is mutual destruction.’ It is not true that APC is destabilising the opposition; it has no hand in what is happening in the parties. Look at ADC. It is a new coalition party. Unlike what is obtainable elsewhere, where the ruling party suppresses the registration of new parties and the emergence of coalitions. There is no such thing happening because we are progressives. The more the merrier.

Perhaps, if you had not had more persons contesting for the presidency during the last election, maybe we would not have won. We won with less than 40 per cent of the total votes, but because we allow everybody to aspire

I like your confidence, but what do you think can stop President Tinubu’s re-election in the 2027 presidential election?

It is only Allah, only God, only God. There is nothing on the ground to show that anybody can challenge him effectively. It has nothing to do with the claim that APC has succeeded in destabilising the opposition party. Not that, not that, but because Nigerians are beginning to see that the painful reforms are actually the path to our prosperous future.

We can’t continue to subsidise consumption. What we need in the country is more than enough. The oil market is fully deregulated, fully liberalised. If you have money now, you can establish a refinery. We are going to grow in leaps and bounds because it will grow the economy of Nigeria. It will bring money into the country and into the hands of people.

Have you written off Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar posing any threat to Tinubu in 2027?

Can you tell me which party Peter Obi belongs to presently? He has no party because you can’t say whether he is in ADC or LP. Obi cannot even muster unity in his party. LP is so fragmented that one cannot say who its national chairman is. Is it Abure, Lamidi Apapa or Nenadi Usman? Which of the three?

Many aspiring for state governorship, House of Representatives or Senate tickets with the LP, don’t even know who will sign their nomination forms among them. The ADC, which seems a bit united, without a leadership crisis, has its own issue in court, too.

Beyond that, how did they fare in the elections conducted recently in Anambra State? How will they fare in the Osun and Ekiti governorship elections coming up next year? We will see how ADC and others will perform. Are they the same parties to contest against Tinubu? Nigerians know the serious party.

What can make you sacrifice your governorship aspiration?

There is nothing for now. It can only take my principal, President Tinubu, telling me not to contest. He is the only person who can tell me to stop contesting. If he tells me, Abiola, sit down and don’t do anything, in fact, I don’t even need to ask him to give me anything in return. If he asked me to sit down, I would sit.

Ardo  Zubairu 

National Secretary 

TInubu Re- Election Project 2027 . Office Phones: 

08033305195

08098885195

07033454053

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