Grand Patron of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, has urged Katsina residents to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
Tompolo made the appeal during the inauguration of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement in Katsina State.
Represented by the Managing Director of Tantita Limited, High Chief Engr. Kestin Ebimorbowe Pondi, he said Katsina should reciprocate what he described as Tinubu’s confidence in the state.
Tompolo said Tinubu had demonstrated trust in Katsina by appointing several indigenes to strategic positions within his administration.
Those he listed included Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Ibrahim Kabir Masari; Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Muttaqa Rabe Darma; and Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa.
Others included Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education, Idris Muhammed Bugaje; Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz; and Chairman of the Corporate Affairs Commission, Senator Ibrahim Ida.
He also mentioned former Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema, Chairman of the Federal Capital Development Authority; former Governor Aminu Bello Masari, Chairman of the TETFund Board of Trustees; and Senator Kabir Abdullahi Barkiya, Chairman of the Nigerian Agricultural Land Development Authority.
“These are not ceremonial appointments. They are positions of responsibility, authority and national consequence,” he said.
According to Tompolo, the appointments showed that Tinubu viewed Katsina beyond its voting strength.
He described the state as a reservoir of talent, experience and capacity.
Tompolo said the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement would take its campaign directly to communities ahead of the 2027 elections.
He urged members to engage voters across wards, communities, markets and households.
“As we approach 2027, Katsina has an opportunity to reciprocate that confidence. Our message as the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement is therefore simple: Go from door to door, from ward to ward, from community to community, from market to market, from household to household,” he said.
He also pointed to Federal Government reforms, particularly moves towards greater financial autonomy for local governments.
According to him, increased resources at the grassroots could support infrastructure and essential services.
“Katsina has been trusted. Let Katsina return that trust. Katsina has been recognised. Let Katsina recognise that confidence. Katsina has been given a seat at the table. Let Katsina remain at the table,” he said.
Katsina State Governor Dikko Umar Radda assured Tinubu of the state’s support for his re-election.
Radda described Katsina as an APC state and said the state had maintained a longstanding political relationship with Tinubu and the Yoruba political establishment.
He recalled Tinubu’s relationship with the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and said the relationship continued through the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
The governor also commended Tompolo for choosing Katsina as the first state for the movement’s launch.
He linked the decision to historical ties between Katsina and the Niger Delta, including the late President Yar’Adua’s establishment of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
“Katsina State is an APC state. Katsina State is a state where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Insha Allah, will have a landslide victory in Katsina State, God willing, in 2027,” Radda said.
He also praised Tinubu’s reforms and said they had created opportunities for governors to deliver development.
National Coordinator of the movement, Sunday Asuku, said the organisation was created to mobilise grassroots support for Tinubu.
He described it as “a grassroots movement to support the President,” adding that “every door matters and everybody in Katsina matters.”
Asuku urged coordinators across the state’s 34 local government areas to campaign from village to village.
Katsina Coordinator Alhaji Faisal Kaita also pledged sustained mobilisation across the state.
The event ended with the distribution of campaign vehicles and other equipment to local government coordinators.
