Former President Bola Tinubu’s South East spokesman and Chairman, Forum of Former Members of Enugu State House of Assembly, Dr. Josef Onoh, has inaugurated Asiwaju Renewed Mandate Southeast (ARMSE), in a bold move to counter the threat from the North.

Some northern groups, represented by the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) and the Northern Awareness Network (NAN), had raised the alarm over what they perceived as a covert scheme to thwart President Tinubu’s potential bid for re-election in 2027. Onoh said ARMS became inevitable, in order to counter wrong impression, opposition and threats from any quarter against Tinubu’s second term.

He said: “Unlike the outcome of the immediate past presidential election in the Southeast, where the APC party big wigs failed to secure victory for the president in the region due to various selfish political interests of major APC stakeholders in the region, this group was floated to promote the president without any prejudice.

“Although, most of them became the greatest beneficiaries of his appointments, which can be best defined as rewarding bad behaviour, this anomaly will not repeat itself in 2027. So to avoid a repeat, it has become necessary to inaugurate a political support group aimed at promoting the president alone.

“Members from all different political parties who believe in the leadership qualities of Tinubu are welcome. We are not interested nor will we support any other political office holders or future aspirants other than President Bola Tinubu. Our mandate starts and ends with the president and we, currently, have many anonymous partners in progress from different states in the South East and South South geopolitical zones as we hope to establish our presence in the entire federation.”

Ono noted that Tinubu won the last presidential poll with enormous help of the various support groups, who he alleged were poorly rewarded. He said that would not deter his group from delivering the president come 2027, declaring any covert scheme from any part of the country as “dead on arrival”.

“The Asiwaju Renewed Mandate Southeast group does not get involved in the activities of the APC in the Southeast, which is really not making any meaningful impact currently in the region or any other political party in the country. Our business is strictly President Tinubu and nothing else.

President Tinubu’s administration is working hard to reduce the huge army of jobless Nigerians.

“Appointees like the CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso and his team are working hard to ensure they give a desired kick to the economy, so that Nigerians, come 2027, will look back and say, yes, from 2023, our lives under Tinubu have improved qualitatively, then the millions of votes cast for Tinubu to emerge our president would not have been wasted.

“With the enormous resources of the country, the Tinubu administration cannot peddle any excuse for failing to deliver on his Renew Hope Mandate and the direly needed public goods. That will answer the question of whether any section of the country can decide the outcome of the peoples choice come 2027.”

Onoh said before the 2023 polls, there was an apparent gang up against the candidacy of Tinubu from almost every region of the country and the then incumbent government, but the political manipulations from were extinguished by the Nigerian electorates corkscrew drive for change of the Buhari administration.

“The economy was collapsing; the social structure was hastily diminishing; characters like the then CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, who turned political presidential aspirant, introduced manipulative and detrimental financial policies aimed not only at President Tinubu, but Nigerians as a whole; the state of insecurity was day-by-day becoming excruciating.

“President Tinubu inherited a fancy attractive well packaged economic disaster, a complete failed economy, but he’s not complaining neither do you see him blaming the past administration like most previous administrations do. The trifling frequencies of the Obidients brouhaha and wild imaginary ‘stolen mandate’ imaginary victory aimed at creating obvious displays of discontent from the electorates, not limited to political religious gangsterism and outright lamentation of rigging by the opposition thrown at President Tinubu were more challenging that the presumed covert scheme to thwart his potential bid for re-election in 2027 by some few entitled individuals from the north will fail.

“In the words of President Bola Tinubu, “Do not relent in your pursuit. You too can be our heroes of tomorrow,” so come 2027, we will deliver and be counted as heroes of tomorrow.”