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Vice-President Kashim Shettima has challenged residents of Ondo State to secure at least 1.2 million votes for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
Shettima made the appeal on Wednesday while representing Tinubu at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign rally held at the Township Stadium in Akure, the state capital.
Addressing party supporters, the Vice-President said Ondo had the electoral capacity to achieve the target, noting that about 1.8 million out of the state’s 2.1 million registered voters had collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
He urged APC leaders and supporters to translate the number of collected PVCs into votes for Tinubu, expressing confidence that the state could deliver the expected electoral support.
“It is our expectation that Ondo should be able to deliver 1.2 million votes out of the 1.8 million PVCs collected so far,” Shettima said.
The Vice-President also criticised opposition figures, including former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), questioning their political influence and electoral strength in their respective home states.
Shettima described the large turnout at the Akure rally as evidence of the APC’s grassroots mobilisation capacity, contrasting the party’s physical rallies with what he characterised as the opposition’s reliance on social media campaigns.
“Looking at the rally today in Ondo, it is shut down. Our political opponents are conducting rallies on Instagram and Facebook,” he said.
He particularly questioned Atiku’s political standing in Adamawa State, his home state, alleging that the former Vice-President lacked the support and political alignment of influential political figures who had previously governed the state.
Shettima also questioned Obi’s political influence in Anambra, arguing that the former governor did not enjoy the backing of prominent former and serving political leaders from the state.
Meanwhile, Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa pledged that the state would deliver at least one million votes for Tinubu in the forthcoming election.
Aiyedatiwa attributed the commitment to what he described as the benefits Ondo had received under the Tinubu administration, including federal government policies, economic reforms and the appointment of indigenes of the state to strategic government positions.
He noted that three ministers from Ondo and other prominent indigenes had been appointed into public offices, arguing that the development demonstrated the administration’s commitment to the state.
However, Director-General of the Tinubu Presidential Campaign Council, Abdullaziz Yari, maintained that Ondo should aim beyond the governor’s one-million-vote pledge.
Yari urged APC leaders, stakeholders and supporters to work collectively towards securing maximum votes for the President, stressing the need for unity among party members.
Also speaking at the rally, Imo State Governor and Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, Hope Uzodimma, appealed to eligible voters who had yet to collect their PVCs to visit designated collection centres and obtain their cards ahead of the election.
Uzodimma stressed that effective voter mobilisation would be critical to achieving the party’s electoral target.
He also called on aggrieved members and factions within the APC to resolve their differences, embrace unity and avoid internal disagreements capable of weakening the party’s chances in 2027.
The rally formed part of the APC’s broader mobilisation efforts as the ruling party intensifies preparations for the 2027 presidential election.
