The APC Campaign Council for Ijumu I (Gbede) State Constituency has hit the road, launching a door-to-door grassroots mobilisation to formally present the party’s flag bearer, Hon. Femi Esemikose, to constituents ahead of the forthcoming election.
Led by the Director-General of the Council, Hon. Oladele John Nihi, the campaign train rolled through five communities on its opening day — Okoro Gbede, Araromi Gbede, Odokoro Gbede, Agrigbon and Ayeh Gbede — drawing crowds of enthusiastic residents who trooped out to welcome the party’s standard-bearer.
The tour had the visible backing of party heavyweights, including Hon. Sikiru Hamza, who had earlier slugged it out with Esemikose for the party’s ticket, alongside Hon. Amodu Abubakar Prime and Hon. Kelvin Oluseyi Eleta, both Senior Special Assistants to the Executive Governor of Kogi State. Government officials, party leaders and loyalists trailed the convoy from community to community, engaging stakeholders and rallying support at every stop.
The turnout, organisers say, was a strong statement of the party’s cohesion and grassroots acceptance in the constituency.
A high point of the outing was the visible reconciliation between the candidate and his former rival. Commending Hamza for placing party unity above personal ambition, Nihi described his presence on the campaign train as proof that “after every contest comes reconciliation, and after reconciliation comes victory.”
Fired up by the reception, Nihi declared: “The journey has begun. We will take our message to every community, mobilise every stakeholder, and work tirelessly to deliver victory for Hon. Femi Esemikose and all candidates of the APC.”
He rounded off the day’s outing with a rallying cry for the party’s top tickets, insisting that the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Usman Ododo and Hon. Idris Salman remains “sacrosanct and not negotiable.”
