From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
A group under the auspices of 19 Northern States Movement for Kashim Shettima has promised to mobilize no fewer than 16 million votes for the Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his running mate Senator Kashim Shettima come 2023 election.
The Director General of the movement, Abubakar Aliyu disclosed this in Kaduna while issuing certificates to 1,646 organizations and Associations who have registered under the movement to work for the overall success of the APC presidential candidate in the 19 northern states.
Aliyu disclosed that so far, plans have been perfected in the 19 northern states to have about 1.5 million people engaged in house-to-house and door-to-door campaign to mobilize supports that will translate into votes for the APC candidate.
He said, in the spirit of fairness and justice, the North should reciprocate the Southern support given to the present President from the North who is rounding up two terms of 8 years and support Tinubu and his running mate who played significant roles in bringing Buhari to power
According to him, the movement is basically to ensure that the northern region is thoroughly sensitized and mobilized to support Shettima who is from the North and running mate to the presidential candidate who is from the South and who has contributed immensely to the APC as a party.
“We are doing this because we have a lot of challenges especially because Kashim Shettima is from the North and from the same zone as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate.
“We want Tinubu to succeed, that is why we have continued to tell our people the truth, when you vote Tinubu you vote Shettima. We are sensitizing women and men, we have kicked started the campaign, we will go to polling unit by polling unit.
“We are in Kaduna and we have selected 1.5 million people that will spare head the campaign for Tinubu/Shettima, they are going to go from house to house and door to door. With this our movement, Shettima alone is going to deliver the whole of 19 northern states for Tinubu in 2023.
“The mammoth crowd of people you are seeing here came from across the 19 northern states for this program and. because they believe in Tinubu/Shettima. Tinubu has made a wise decision by choosing Shettima and by the Grace of God and because of the love we have for Shettima, we are going to mobilize16 million votes across the 19 northern states for their success.
“As you can see we are not sponsored by anybody, we are doing this with our personal resources because of the love and passion we have for Shettima, we have thousands of women and men here, there is no governor, Minister or any big politicians here, those you are seeing are from the grassroots and they all have their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).
“As the director general of this movement, I promise Tinubu not to border campaigning again in the North, because of Shettima, we are going to deliver the North for him because of love we have for him.
“Going forward, we are going to continue to sensitize our people, because all the people that came for this our event are card-carrying members with PVCs. politics has changed now; you have to go from door to door to campaign and that is what we are doing,
“Power has stayed in the North for a long time and for justice and equity that is why we are supporting Tinubu to be our next president. Today we have 1,646 organizations, we didn’t give anybody one Naira, we just issued certificates to them because they believe in what we are doing and they also have the capacity to deliver,” Aliyu said.