South South Coordinator of P-BAT Door to Door Movement, Pastor Reuben Wilson and Member of the House of Representatives representing Burutu Federal Constituency, Hon. Julius Pondi, have declared support for President Bnola Tinubu’s second term bid, saying the. administration needs more time to deliver on its promises to Nigerians, particularly riverine communities in the South-South.
They spoke in Yenagoa during the South-South flag-off of the PBAT Door-to-Door Campaign, a grassroots mobilization effort for the President’s re-election.
They noted that the mission of P-BAT Door to Door Movement is to go into our communities and preach and educate the people all the transformative and impactful programme and projects embarked upon by Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
” We all gathered here to wholeheartedly support the PBAT Door-to-Door Campaign for Mr. President’s second term bid,” Pondi said.
Reacting to criticisms that the President has not performed well enough to merit re-election, the APC chieftains said every Nigerian is entitled to an opinion, but argued that three years was too short to assess a four-year administration.
“As human beings, everyone is entitled to their own views and opinions, but for us from the South-South that are here today, we believe that Mr. President has done well,” he said.
“That is not to say that everything is going on well. If you give the best president, assuming there is somebody that can be seen as the best, and allow the person to govern Nigeria, the person cannot do magic in three years. Mr. President has laid the foundation. Yes, some of the policies in the immediate may not be comfortable, but let’s look at the bigger picture, let’s look ahead.”
The duo said more resources were now available to state governments and were “trickling down to riverine” areas that had hitherto not witnessed development. He added that the PBAT Door-to-Door movement would focus on persuasion rather than coercion to win support at the grassroots.
“For us in the South-South, for us in PBAT Door-to-Door, and for the founder and grand patron, the position is that let’s give Mr. President another term of four years,” he said.
They noted that the grand patron, High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, had created over 25,000 jobs through his company. “If even this number alone vote with their families, this is a huge milestone for Mr. President. But beyond that, we are going door to door, not by force but by persuasion and simple understanding. We believe that come January, during the election, it will be a straight win that will not be negotiated.”
On the benefits to the South-South if Tinubu is re-elected, they cited ongoing interventions through the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, and the newly established South-South Development Commission, which he chairs as Chairman, House Committee.
“There is certainly going to be development. We have the NDDC that is being funded. We have the South-South Development Commission that is in place now. It is not fully funded yet, but we believe the intention of the establishment is good and the funding will come,” the duo said
“We believe that when he is re-elected, things will not only change for the better, but it will be historic. It will be on record that he is the President that benefited the people of the riverine more than any other President before. We are pleased with him and we are supporting his re-election with all our hearts, and we will do everything to ensure he is re-elected.”