Politician Sowunmi has urged non-indigene communities in Ogun State to organise their members and wider communities behind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2027 election, saying their participation and votes would be vital to the campaign.
Appeal to non-indigene communities
Speaking during separate meetings with the groups on Saturday, Sowunmi said he had established what he called the “Ogun Tribe” as an umbrella identity for everyone living in the state, regardless of ethnicity or place of origin.
He said the initiative was intended to unite residents who might otherwise identify primarily with their various local or ethnic communities.
Sowunmi added that he treated allegations of discrimination or mistreatment involving non-indigenes as a personal responsibility and would intervene whenever such cases were reported to him.
He argued that Ogun had reached a level of development at which people from every part of Nigeria should be able to live peacefully and contribute to the state.
Non-indigenes, he said, had played an important role in Ogun’s trading and farming economies, including through businesses and work in rural areas.
Recalling his dealings with non-indigene organisations during previous elections, Sowunmi said he had depended on their backing when asking them to support particular candidates.
He pointed to the 2023 elections in Abeokuta South, saying he had asked members of the community to support candidates in different contests and that they had acted on his appeals.
Describing his bond with the communities as one founded on confidence and mutual trust, he told them they were highly valuable to him.
He also promised to support them whenever they experienced unfair treatment.
Sowunmi said residents could contact him directly if anyone subjected them to unjustified harassment, promising to travel to their aid whether he was in Abuja, London or Abeokuta.
2027 presidential campaign
On the next presidential election, Sowunmi asked the communities to help assemble support for Tinubu throughout Ogun State, characterising the contest as an “election of liberation.”
He said that, on election day, no one should remain inactive and that every available vote should be cast for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He sought stronger voter mobilisation in Ogun Central, Ogun East and Ogun West, while encouraging residents to take an active part in the electoral process.
He connected the appeal to his support for rotating presidential power between northern and southern Nigeria, saying the 2027 poll should reflect backing for that arrangement.
Sowunmi also asked the South-West to produce a decisive result for Tinubu. At the same time, he urged voters nationwide to appreciate what he described as the need for political inclusion and balance among the country’s regions.
He said the South-East should eventually be allowed to produce a president, maintaining that political differences should not permanently deny any region the chance to seek the nation’s highest office.
Sowunmi said part of the reason for backing Tinubu was that the President was already in his first term. In his view, the administration should therefore be allowed to pursue its policies further.
He urged non-indigene residents to engage fully in the election and use their strength in numbers to affect its result through voting.
Community endorsements and representation
Earlier, the chairman of the Non-Indigene Association of Ogun State, Egba Zone, Hon. Francis Nwanze, said the organisation had decided to support Tinubu’s re-election campaign in 2027.
A representative of the Igede Community likewise pledged that non-indigenes across Ogun would take part actively in campaign events and rallies for the President.
The representative said the community was already working for Tinubu’s return and that non-indigenes would attend rallies in large numbers when the campaign began.
The association also requested broader representation for non-indigenes in government, including appointments to political and administrative offices such as Special Assistant positions.
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