2027: South-South Is 100% For Tinubu, Says Presidential Aide

The Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Community Engagement (South-South), Gift Johnbull, has declared that the South-South region is fully behind the President’s re-election bid ahead of the 2027 general elections, citing ongoing infrastructure projects and social intervention programmes.

Johnbull said the region’s support for Tinubu was informed by what she described as the administration’s unprecedented attention to its development needs, particularly in road construction, education, rural electrification and environmental restoration.

She made the declaration while highlighting projects being executed under the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda across the six South-South states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers.

According to her, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the reconstruction of the Benin-Asaba dual carriageway and interventions on the Benin Bypass, Benin-Sapele-Warri corridor, Auchi-Ehor Road and East-West Road demonstrate the administration’s commitment to improving infrastructure in the region.

Johnbull said the projects would boost trade, tourism and economic activities while improving connectivity across communities in the oil-producing region.

“These are not just roads. These are corridors for our oil and gas, for our palm oil, for our plantain and for our people. Roads that carry weight and will last,” she said.

Beyond road infrastructure, the presidential aide listed projects being undertaken by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), including the Kaa-Ataba Bridge linking Khana and Andoni, the Ogu Road Network, Obehie-Oke-Ikpe Road, Bonny Ring Road and Okrika-Borokiri Bridge.

She also cited the commission’s Light Up the Niger Delta solar streetlights project as part of the Federal Government’s interventions in the region.

On environmental restoration, Johnbull said the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) had recorded progress in Ogoniland through the restoration of more than one million mangroves, the provision of potable water to 49 communities and the establishment of health facilities.

She added that the programme had created more than 7,000 direct jobs for youths and women.

The presidential aide also highlighted rural electrification projects being implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), including solar mini-grids in Etung, Cross River State, and Ogu-Bolo, Rivers State.

She said additional sites had been mapped across Delta, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states under the $750 million Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) programme, alongside solar mini-grid projects in universities across the region.

On education, Johnbull described the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as a major intervention, claiming that nearly 198,000 students from the South-South had benefited from the scheme, with more than N17.6 billion disbursed.

She said the intervention had helped students in institutions such as Rivers State University, Delta State University, the University of Benin, the University of Calabar and the University of Uyo to continue their education.

Other initiatives she mentioned included Renewed Hope housing estates in Asaba, Uyo and Port Harcourt, the deployment of compressed natural gas (CNG) buses in Benin City and Port Harcourt, the Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme and the installation of solar power systems in health centres.

Johnbull said the projects had strengthened the region’s confidence in the Tinubu administration, adding that residents were prepared to support the President in 2027.

“The South-South is the region that powers this nation with oil and gas. You have not ignored us. You have embraced us. You have invested in us. You have respected us.

“For that, the South-South is 100 per cent with you,” she said.

She pledged the continued support of the region for the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, saying the administration should be allowed to complete its ongoing projects.

“From Akwa Ibom to Bayelsa, from Cross River to Delta, from Edo to Rivers, we stand together. We will stand with you to complete what you have started. Continuity will deliver prosperity,” she added.

Also speaking, a South-South grassroots mobilisation organiser, Cletus Ojuiso Oph, said the Tinubu administration had created opportunities for people from the region to participate in governance.

Oph said the administration’s education interventions had also helped students who might otherwise have been unable to continue their studies.

He called for the continuation of the programmes, arguing that sustained investment in education and other sectors would promote the region’s development.

He also declared support for Tinubu’s re-election bid.

In her remarks, Ambassador Victoria Uko, an aide to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, commended Johnbull for mobilising women across the South-South in support of the President.

Uko said women were being reached through grassroots campaigns involving markets, streets and communities to encourage participation in the 2027 elections.

She also pledged the support of women across the region, saying mobilisation efforts were ongoing in the South-South’s 123 local government areas.

Uko said a database of women across the region had been compiled to support the mobilisation drive, adding that the group intended to work towards securing votes for Tinubu in the forthcoming election.