2022: SWAGA Will Save APC from Embarrassing Defeat, Says Ex-minister

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

Former Minister of Works and the National Chairman, South-west Agenda for Tinubu 2023 presidential ambition (SWAGA), Senator Dayo Adeyeye, has said the group has started aggressive mobilisation of voters across the state to save the All Progressives Congress (APC) from imminent defeat in the 2022 governorship election.

Adeyeye said the APC-led government of Governor Kayode Fayemi has disappointed the people, describing SWAGA as the only saving grace for the party, “which commands the respect of aggrieved party members and the public.”

The group leader stated this in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, at the weekend while addressing APC members at the conclusion of the mobilisation efforts of the group across the 16 local government areas of the state.

The former minister expressed regret that the APC in the state has lost popularity despite being the ruling party owing to alleged politics of hatred and alienation being played by those loyal to Fayemi.

Adeyeye said: “SWAGA is now a movement that has taken over Ekiti State. If they conduct any primary for governorship in the state and presidency today, SWAGA will win. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who we are promoting is a man who doesn’t forget his people unlike betrayers that we have here. So SWAGA is the right way to tread.

“They said it is direct primary, and that makes us happy. They won’t be able to rig any election. The executives loyal to Governor Fayemi are fake; we are the authentic ones that conducted the ward, local government and state congresses in line with the guidelines of our party, others were imposed.

“Let us begin the grassroots politicking. Don’t be afraid of anybody, this government has got to its twilight. Don’t be deceived by their antics, nothing good will come from them again.

“Instead of going out to canvass for votes, they are doing their permutations on laptop computers, and that has always been their idea, but we are in the streets working because we know the value of our people.”

Also reacting to the need for the state APC to be rejigged and be more united, the state Chairman of SWAGA, Senator Tony Adeniyi (SAN), said the large turnout of APC members had confirmed the group’s acceptability in the state.

Meanwhile, a pro-APC movement in Ekiti State, ‘Just Keep on Following Group’, has warned the party’s governorship aspirants and their handlers against exhibiting tendencies that could create crises and whittle down the party’s support base ahead of the 2022 poll.

The group Publicity Secretary, Victor Irewolede, in a statement issued in Ado Ekiti at the weekend, appealed to party members to exercise restraint and have implicit confidence in the leadership of the party on issue of equity and fairness.

It said it was particularly worried over the baseless and unfounded rumours being circulated that Governor Fayemi and his wife, Bisi, were angling to impose one of the interested aspirants on the party, describing it as a concocted lie that could divide the APC.