•‘ITSO is a national political network’ – DG
A new grassroots political movement has emerged to galvanise support and mobilise for the realisation of presidential ambition of All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Indomitable Tinubu Support Organisation (ITSO) was floated by an amalgamation of APC grassroots mobilisers across the nation, with the objective to promote and projects progressive ideologies of the former Governor of Lagos among the electorate, thereby increasing Tinubu’s chances to clinch the party ticket and ultimately, the presidency.
The group held its inaugural Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Lagos State on Tuesday, with hundreds of Tinubu’s admirers in attendance.
Director-General of the support group and former lawmaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Abdoulbaq Ladi Balogun, said ITSO was initiated as the first support group with a national outlook, and formed to address inadequacies observed in other support organisations.
Balogun said those behind the new support network were those who truly believed in the ideologies of Tinubu and not those who formed political movement for their selfish political gains. ITSO, the DG said, has spread its tentacles to all States of the Federation to woo voters to support the Tinubu candidacy.
He said: “There are many groups that have been formed for our leader and mentor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, towards the 2023 general elections. All these groups have unfolded their plans and strategies, but we realised some of their inadequacies. ITSO is coming out to address some of the observed limitations and present a political network that truly has national outlook.
“Membership of this group is mainly drawn from group of grassroots mobilisers in APC across the federation and those who have shown undiluted loyalty to the political ideology of our National Leader. We are not condemning what other support groups have been doing; we are coming out to collaborate and work with like-minds across the geo-political zones to project Tinubu’s ideals and candidacy.”
Ladi Balogun, said the group would be inaugurating its United Kingdom (UK) chapter next month in order to take the gospel to Nigerians in the diaspora. He said the mission of the group was to invite party supporters and independent voters to show undiluted loyalty to Tinubu’s political ideals.
Apart from canvassing and mobilising votes for Tinubu, the Director-General said ITSO would also be educating voters on their responsibilities in pre-election period and on election day.
He said members of the group remained committed and passionate about helping the APC National Leader to realise the presidential mandate and deliver more development across the nation.
He said: “ITSO believe Tinubu is a sellable candidate for the party and we will be working to ensure he gets highest votes ever in the annals of presidential election. To get this done, we are not only going to canvass and mobilise for votes for our leader, we are also going to engage in voter education to enable the electorate know their responsibilities before the election.
“We don’t want to leave anything to chance. Those that don’t want to vote must understand why there is need for them to part of the process that will usher in a new era of growth and development, which Tinubu will be leading and representing. To this end, we are deploying our grassroots mobilisers across all local governments in Nigeria to educate people on how to get voter cards and revalidate same.”
The group comprises Directors of Mobilisation in Lagos and other States, Women Mobilisers and Youth Leaders. The structure includes CWC and Directorates, who will be overseeing activities of local government coordinators appointed for engagement and mobilisation. Also, there are coordinators for indigenous groups including Arewa, Ndigbo, South-South, North Central among others.
