Adebayo Adenrele
The City Boy Movement has inaugurated its executives in Ekiti State as part of efforts to deepen grassroots mobilisation ahead of the 2027 general elections, with the group declaring a target of 10 million genuine members nationwide to support President Bola Tinubu.
The National Director-General of the movement, Hon. Francis Shoga, made the declaration during its Townhall Meeting, Street Engagement and State Inauguration in Ekiti themed: “Leaving no one behind”, where he charged the newly inaugurated executives to move beyond meetings and structures to active grassroots engagement.
Shoga said the movement was establishing structures across the country to create greater opportunities for young Nigerians to participate actively in politics and governance.
The national director-general also commended the Ekiti State Government for its leadership and support for the development of the City Boy Movement in the state.
He described members of the movement as participants in a historic effort to create a platform for young Nigerians to become active stakeholders in the political process.
Shoga urged the new executives to transform the structures already established by the movement into concrete grassroots activities.
He said, “We are setting up structures everywhere. We must be involved, we must inspire, and that’s how power comes to young people.
“I charge you to move from structure to action, from meeting to the field. The grassroots is our next frontier. We must go everywhere. We must communicate government policies and programmes clearly.
“Our objective is 10 million members. Our focus must be genuine. We need to know who our members are. Grow genuine members, measure our results. Let’s make Ekiti a reference point. Let’s go to the grassroots, let’s mobilise, participate, protect the mandate of Tinubu”.
Also speaking, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Students Engagement, Sunday Asefon, urged student ambassadors of the movement across tertiary institutions to take the campaign for awareness of the Federal Government’s policies and programmes to their colleagues.
Asefon said the 2027 election should not be viewed merely in terms of the numerical strength of students, but also in terms of their ability to communicate policy information and participate in the democratic process.
He urged student ambassadors to explain the achievements and policies of the Tinubu administration to students on their respective campuses.
The Ekiti Coordinator of the City Boy Movement, Asiwaju Oluwafemi Kasali, said the movement was focusing its mobilisation on voters beyond traditional party structures.
Kasali said the movement had developed a strategy aimed at reaching the 2,445 polling units in Ekiti State, with two canvassers targeted for each polling unit.
He explained that the strategy was designed to reach undecided voters, newly eligible voters who had turned 18 and registered to vote, as well as people who traditionally show limited interest in elections.
Kasali said the movement’s approach was deliberately broader than mobilising only members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying:
“Inauguration comes with responsibility. The offices being assumed today are not merely positions; they are responsibility and trust to an individual to serve, organise, listen and contribute to the growth of the movement,” he added.
The APC Chairman in Ekiti State, Barrister Sola Eleshin, said political mobilisation had expanded beyond the traditional structure of political parties, making participation a responsibility for different groups and individuals.
Eleshin said the City Boy Movement had a role to play in the mobilisation of support for President Tinubu’s re-election, disclosing that the APC in Ekiti had set a target of 700,000 votes for Tinubu in the state, adding that the party would continue to support the activities of the movement.
The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Stephen Aribasoye, also charged members of the movement to concentrate their activities at the polling-unit level.
He said elections were determined at polling units and urged the movement to take its mobilisation efforts directly to voters.
The Ekiti State Commissioner for Information, Taiwo Olatunbosun, expressed the state government’s support for the movement, saying the government was pleased to identify with its activities.
Olatunbosun described Tinubu as a leader whose administration had taken decisions which, according to him, were intended to move the country forward.
In his keynote address, titled “Leaving No One Behind”, the Special Adviser to Governor Oyebanji on Research and Documentation, Dr Femi Owolabi, called for greater involvement of young people in politics.
Owolabi said young Nigerians should not be treated as visitors in the political process, stressing that while voting remained important, active participation was equally significant.
He urged young people to take ownership of their priorities and ensure that their communities were carried along in the political process.
