PRESIDENT TINUBU WILL DELIVER AND NIGERIA WILL BE GREAT  – Adeboye Adebayo, National Publicity Secretary Of Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation

Comrade Adeboye Adebayo is the National Publicity Secretary of Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation, (AGF). He was the National Director Media & Publicity of the campaign project under AGF which was tagged “Asiwaju Project Beyond 2023”.

He served in the capacity of an official Spokesperson during the presidential campaign of his Principal, and now the President; Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a member, Directorate of Public Affairs of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council where the present Minister Of Aviation and Aerospace Developed; Festus Keyamo was the Director.

Adebayo describes himself as a Tinubuist to the core. According to him, “Tinubu can never be wrong, though he is not God, God is the only supreme being that is perfect but for being a patriot, a visionary leader and indeed a true democrat, Bola Ahmed Tinubu can never be wrong to a large extent.” 

In this interview with www.osuncitizen.com’s Dotun Olanibi, he speaks passionately about his Principal; President Tinubu, AGF, state of the nation, alongside other issues. Enjoy reading.

What is AGF all about, I mean what does the group stand for?

AGF, the Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation is the foremost support group for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we have been at the forefront of Bola Tinubu’s struggle since 2012.

We are a group of young Nigerians both at home and abroad, who believe in the philosophy and political leanings of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a true democrat who believes in social justice, true federalism, egalitarian society and rule of law.

We have since been apostles of his tenets and principles. We have been doing that long before his aspiration for presidency. Long before then, through our belief in his course, we had used our foundation to support and fight many of his political battles and that of his allies, we worked in support of any political struggle that is of interest to Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

I could remember vividly our struggle as a foundation during the speakership battle of Rt. Honourable Femi Gbajabiamiala in 2015 (now the Chief of Staff to the President), we mobilised, we campaigned, I remember how myself and our late National Coordinator, Otunba Adeleye escaped lynching in Lokoja during a press conference to support that course at the time.

So, we are for Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his course, simple and we are the very first and foremost at that.

I’m aware that AGF is one of the first set of groups that went to town with the 2023 Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s presidential bid even at a time when people didn’t believe in it, can you tell us what gave birth to this?

Like I said earlier, we believe in Bola Ahmed Tinubu because he is a democrat and the role he played in turning Lagos economy around was a practical thing that is felt by everyone who has one thing or the other to do with Lagos.

Because of his principle as a patriot, we had long believed in his capacity to make Nigeria a better place. For me, I know our country needs a leader that understands on his own the rudiments of economic growth and development, not a leader that will rely on a concept that will be developed for him.

A leader that understands the politics of crude oil, petrol and its subsidy, a leader that understands the politics of National Assembly on his own and how to play such politics for the smooth running of governance, a leader that understands monetary and fiscal policies on his own, who understands the politics of Naira and Dollar, Politics of International diplomacies and trade, a leader that can turn the fortunes of Nigeria to wealth for Nigerians.

All of this can be attributed to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we saw it in him, we followed our belief and we started the struggle long before 2023.

I’ve interacted with some members of your group, your group has this sort of strong confidence that now President Bola Tinubu will get his party’s ticket, and will go ahead to win the election last year despite all the obstacles he encountered, what gave you this confidence?

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a dogged fighter and we; his believer and follower are more dogged than him and we were aware that nothing good comes easy, we rolled our sleeves long ago, we were well prepared and indeed we were resolute in our commitment to get him onboard as Nigerian President for the good and wellbeing of Nigerians.

At the end of the day, Tinubu became the President, and one would expect this to be a dream come true for your group, and expect to see more activities from your group as a follow up, but you seem to be quiet these days, what’s happening?

Politics is dynamic and a whole lot is embedded in that dynamism.

To say the truth, several errors were committed by the leadership of the foundation in setting our pet project tagged “Asiwaju Project Beyond 2023” during the campaign. Those errors were so grave that it is telling on us now and that is why your observation was right in saying that we are currently cold.

We erroneously collaborated with some elements that were not like minds, characters that did not share the passion for our numerous longstanding members who were the reasons why AGF still stands.

It is worthy of note that we have some who stood their ground and believe in the AGF and our Principal, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the South East, South-south and in the North when Tinubu’s name was not to heard or mentioned, even in the Southwest, there were some states then where Tinubu’s name was decimated, yet our people stood firm to their belief in AGF and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu but unfortunately, our misstep during the Project Beyond 2023 has eroded us a lot.

Some people are saying that your group has been “played out” or sidelined, some are even saying the group has lost relevance or even disbanded, is this true? If so or if not so, what exactly is the situation?

Haha! Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation, AGF can never be played out in any sense, we can never be sidelined and we can never be disbanded. Our formation is legal and we have never run foul of any law in all our activities from inception till date. We are still existing and running.

Is there any chance for a roundtable discussion?

Roundtable discussion is not what is needed now, restructuring is what we are looking at, we need to restructure so as to separate the ugly and the bad from the good. We have some elements whose selfishness is their driving force, they are shortsighted and continuing to work with them will make us miss the larger picture completely.

So, what we need now is to separate the shaft from the substance. Many of us are not part of the foundation for selfish reasons, we are long sighted and we are indeed for the growth and betterment of all members and not some few.

Don’t forget AGF is a household name that can never be rubbished, our longstanding activities and contributions to the political struggle of President Bola Tinubu and in deepening Nigeria’s democracy will never go in vain. All we need to do is to go back to the drawing board, retrace our steps, get back on track and keep running faster.

We are dogged and our belief is still intact. No retreat, no surrender until we win and we shall definitely win.

Let’s talk about the state of the nation; President Tinubu will soon be a year in office, what do you think are his achievements so far, and what are the things you think he should address/work on?

Our principal has not disappointed us, all the attributes I mentioned above are now playing out but first, for a very long time a Nigerian privately owned airline is now plying the lucrative Nigeria-London route, an opportunity that is embedded in the agreement signed by the two countries called BASA which has eluded us for whatever reason for a long time. Through the efforts of the Honourable Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo SAN as alluded to by the Chairman of Airpeace; Allen Onyema, we are on that route, that is a major achievement of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Naira is gaining strength in the market today, not artificially but naturally according to the forces of the market and you know the economic gain of that, Petrol which is the common commodity for all Nigerians is getting readily available and the price is going down as we are coming out of the sad and negative effects of unavoidable subsidy removal.

President Bola Tinubu has created more wealth for the country through his policies and more money is available to the State Governors and Local Government Chairmen now.

Infrastructure are being built all around the country now. The opposition elements agreed that Keyamo is working, Umahi is working, Wike is working, Cardoso is working, Pate is working but they will senselessly ask you what Tinubu is doing.

President Bola Tinubu has repeatedly said, he asked for the job and he has no excuse not to deliver, that shows the determination of a responsible leader, he will definitely deliver and Nigeria will be great

However, Mr. President needs to put more attention to the power sector, I don’t know what the Minister of Power, Adelabu is doing or not doing but there is no electricity at all at homes, offices and shops including workshops and the feedback is not encouraging across the country.

If you’re called to a meeting with President Tinubu today, what will you tell him?

I will commend him first for his commitment and sacrifice for undertaking the tedious and complicated job of presiding over Nigeria, it takes a high-level sacrifice, commitment and patriotism for anyone of Tinubu’s status who lacks nothing in life to venture into Nigeria’s presidency and determine to work hard to change things for common Nigerians.

I will commend him. I will emphatically tell him to reward members of his foremost political group, Asiwaju Grassroots Foundation, (AGF) according to what we have contributed as an encouragement to Nation building.

Lastly i will tell him to please do more in the power sector, we don’t have electricity at our homes and workshops.