From Clement Adeyi, Osogbo
Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, an NGO, the South West Agenda (SWAGA 2023), will be launched on Tuesday, January 19, in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, to canvas support for the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
The Coordinator of the NGO, Honourable (Mrs) Ayo Omidiran, who disclosed this to reporters in Osogbo, said that the rationale behind the launch was ‘to present Tinubu for Presidency in 2023.’
She also disclosed that SWAGA was founded by a group of former legislators and some politicians and was self-sponsored.
Omidiran, who represented Ayedaade, Irewole and Isokan Federal Constituency of Osun State in the House of Representatives between 2011 and 2019, added that the SWAGA’s confidence in launching Tinubu into the public domain to boost his presidential ambition was because “he is a sellable product that every Nigerian would embrace for the exalted office any day.
She added: ‘All over the country, how many other persons can we present as presidential candidates and people would not ask, “who is that?”
‘But we have a product that everybody would always embrace any day and who has the backing of the polity. It is a cause we believe in and it is awareness about a product we believe in. We are trying to saturate the whole South West with the message of Tinubu,’ she stressed.
Omidiran, who also disclosed that the zonal launch of the SWAGA was held in Ibadan last year, said that the event in Osun on Tuesday would mark the first state launch which would be held later in all the other South-West states.
‘The reason we are starting from home is because we are the people who own the man and charity begins at home. So, charity must begin from here. Then later we shall bring others into one big umbrella. When he becomes a candidate, then the job becomes easier for us.’
She further disclosed that delegates shall come from the five South West States to represent all the local government areas during the launch.
‘We are not putting any party colouration to it. There is no party identity to it now. It is strictly nongovernmental,’ Omidiran said.