As election campaigns officially kick off nationwide, youths under the auspices of the City Boy Movement Wednesday vowed to deliver 10 million votes for the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, in the forthcoming 2023 election.
Youths numbering hundreds converged at the Unity Fountain, Abuja, slowing the flow of vehicular traffic as part of initial campaign rallies they hope to replicate nationwide in the coming months.
Speaking with journalists at the rally, CBM’s National Coordinator, Shoaga Francis, said “any mistake” in Nigeria’s choice of President will be “detrimental.”
He said, “The main reason we’re here today is to tell Nigerians that there is one alternative to the presidency in 2023. There is only one man that can change this economy for good. Any mistake will be detrimental. Asiwaju needs the youths. It’s time for them to be recognised again in this country.”
On her part, the President of the Women Cooperative Society of Nigeria, Mrs Oluwatoyin Badmus, said with Nigerian women constituting the highest population of voters, market women and traders are poised to support the Tinubu/Shettima ticket.
“You know that it is women who vote. If you neglect women, you lose the election. Asiwaju does not play with market women. So, we market women all over Nigeria; we are solidly behind him.
“Our group has coordinators in almost all the markets in Nigeria. Women have been registering for our corporative. And we don’t register anyone who does not have a PVC. Our women have their PVCs, and their vote is for Asiwaju,” she said.
The APC Deputy National Youths Leader, Jamaludeen Kabir, noted that with plans underway for a nationwide rally, Tuesday’s convergence is only one out of many.
According to him, 10 million youth votes will be mobilized to vote the APC standard bearer into office in 2023.
He said, “Today, we are here to mobilize and galvanise 10 million votes as support for our Bola Tinubu. Today Nigerian youths from every nook and cranny came out to stand with us to make their voices heard.
“We stand as one people to ensure votes for Asiwaju in 2023. Immediately after this programme, we march all over the city to demonstrate as one Nigeria. After this, we are converging in Kano where the Arewa Youths will march.”
The CBM movement is not the only campaign activity in the FCT. At the International Conference Centre, the PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, formally inaugurated the party’s 2023 Presidential Campaign Council headed by Akwa Ibom state Governor, Udom Emmanuel.
At the meeting, Atiku launched three books detailing his side of the story about his stewardship as Vice President under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
They include The Story of Atiku Abubakar, Landmark Constitutional Law Cases in Nigeria (2004-2007): The Atiku Abubakar Cases and Restructuring as a Pathway to National Unity and Development.
The book comes eight years after Obasanjo published the first of a three-volume memoir, My Watch, in which the former President made scathing remarks about his deputy.
