Senate President Godswill Akpabio has thrown his weight behind the City Boy Movement, declaring that the grassroots organisation will deliver overwhelming victory for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's re-election bid in 2027. The senator met with a delegation from the movement at his office on Wednesday and praised their resolve.
Akpabio likened the City Boy Movement to an invisible force reshaping Nigeria's political landscape. "The City Boy Movement is like a wind blowing across the nation," he said during the meeting.
"You may not see it but you can feel it."
He stressed that the movement's presence will ensure government representation at every polling unit nationwide. "Never again shall we have a situation in any polling unit in Nigeria where Mr President will not have an agent because we have the City Boy Movement," Akpabio told the visitors.
The senate president suggested the movement's earlier existence could have changed the outcome of the last election. "In the last election, if your Movement had existed, many of our votes that were not counted in many polling units would have been counted," he said.
Akpabio told the group they'd arrived at a critical moment in Nigeria's political trajectory. "I know that you are all poised to ensure maximum victory come 2027," he noted, adding that their timing was perfect.
He highlighted the competitive advantage the movement enjoys while other parties remain dormant. "While you are doing all these and you are going round the country mobilising, sensitising the populace, the voters, educating them, other political parties are sleeping," according to him.
The senate president warned members to expect accusations of rigging once Tinubu's victory is announced. He urged them to ignore such claims and stay the course regardless of criticism.
Akpabio encouraged the youths to view their campaign work as an investment in their own political futures. "This is now your turn to shape your future," he told them.
"I know that as you campaign for the President, you are also learning and acquiring knowledge on how to mobilise and campaign for yourselves in future."
He pledged the Senate's support for youth participation in nation-building. "The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is pleased with the youths of this country who have decided to tow the right path," he added.
Akpabio acknowledged that some young Nigerians have been lost to cultism and drug abuse but said they shouldn't be written off entirely. He also made a case for respecting the elderly, whom he described as repositories of wisdom.
The senator, who serves as grand patron of the City Boy Movement, quoted a philosopher to inspire the group. "It is not a tragedy when a nonentity whimpers through life and ends up a failure in the grave," he said.
"But it is a tragedy when a potentially achieving young man or woman, out of a flaw in his or her character becomes a failure and ends up in the grave."
