The PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, a political group backed by Niger Delta businessman Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, has launched its northern mobilisation campaign in Katsina State ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
The development came as Katsina State Governor, Dikko Radda, pledged the state’s support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s bid for a second term.
The group inaugurated its Katsina structure at People’s Square in the state capital on Saturday and distributed campaign vehicles to coordinators across the state’s 34 local government areas.
Katsina is considered a strategic state for Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign. Although the state is controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tinubu narrowly lost Katsina to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2023 presidential election.
Atiku secured 489,045 votes in the state, while Tinubu polled 482,283 votes, giving the former a margin of 6,762 votes. Tinubu, however, won in 21 of Katsina’s 34 local government areas.
Speaking at the mobilisation event, Governor Radda described Katsina as an APC stronghold and assured Tinubu of the state’s backing in the 2027 election.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I want you to be rest assured that Katsina State is your state and will not let you down,” Radda said.
“We will support you, our people will support you, Insha Allah, so that you can continue with the good work you have started for the good people of Nigeria.”
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The governor also praised the economic reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration, saying they had increased resources available to state governments and strengthened the financial position of local governments.
According to him, the additional funds could support improvements in roads, education, healthcare, water supply, sanitation and markets across the state.
Radda further described Katsina as firmly controlled by the APC, noting that elected officials in the state belonged to the ruling party.
However, at least one federal lawmaker from Katsina is no longer a member of the APC.
Shehu Tafoki, who represents Kankara/Faskari/Sabuwa Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, defected from the APC to the PDP in May after losing the ruling party’s ticket for the 2027 election. His defection was subsequently announced on the floor of the House.
Tompolo-Backed Campaign Group
The PBAT Door-to-Door Movement was established and sponsored by Ekpemupolo to mobilise grassroots support for Tinubu ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
The group inaugurated its national executives in Abuja in July at an event attended by prominent APC figures, including Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House of Representatives Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.
Representing Ekpemupolo at the Katsina event, Kestin Pondi urged members of the movement to take the campaign to wards, communities, markets and households across the state.
Pondi said the political relationship between Tinubu and Katsina was based on trust and cooperation.
The Katsina APC chairman, Bishir Saulawa, also urged the movement to coordinate its activities with the party’s structures at the local government level.
A former deputy governor of the state and coordinator of the Renewed Hope initiative in Katsina, Tukur Ahmed Jikamshi, said the APC remained united across the state’s 361 wards and 34 local government areas.
The state coordinator of the PBAT Door-to-Door Movement, Faisal Kaita, disclosed that coordinators had been appointed across all 34 local government areas.
Campaign vehicles were subsequently handed over to the coordinators as part of the group’s mobilisation strategy.
Ekpemupolo is also linked to Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, a private firm contracted by the Federal Government to provide oil pipeline surveillance services in the Niger Delta.
The Katsina State Government has been asked to clarify the number of vehicles deployed for the campaign, their cost and who financed their procurement. No response had been received at the time of filing the report.
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