By: Bola Ojuola, Akure.
A former governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in Ondo State, Abass Mimiko, has disclosed plans to establish a broad-based political coalition, ‘the One Love Coalition’, to mobilise support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election bid ahead of the 2027 general election.
Mimiko, who is the younger brother of former Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, said the coalition would mobilise Nigerians across political parties, religious affiliations, ethnic groups and social classes who believe that the Tinubu administration was moving the country in the right direction.
He disclosed this during an interview with members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ondo State Council, in Ondo town at the weekend, saying the initiative was not an APC structure but a platform for Nigerians who wanted to support Tinubu without necessarily joining the ruling party.
According to him, “We are putting up a coalition. We call it One Love Coalition of Like Minds. Your own pocket donation. Like they used to do in America. Put your one dollar on the ground, put your two dollars. And we then lead a campaign, media campaign, street to street, door to door.”
Mimiko said the coalition would begin from Ondo State and spread across the South-west, adding that its membership would include politicians from different parties, students, market women, artisans, religious leaders and other Nigerians who shared its objectives.
“We call our own One Love Coalition. One love keeps us together. The whole idea is we don’t want Nigeria that will splinter. We want a Nigeria where there will be freedom enough for the regions,” he said.
Mimiko said he was supporting Tinubu despite remaining a committed member of the ZLP, adding that Nigerians who did not belong to the party could also support his administration.
“President Bola Tinubu doesn’t belong to APC alone. He is the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He belongs to all of us,” he said.
Mimiko said the coalition would embark on an extensive grassroots campaign to educate Nigerians on what he described as the achievements of the Tinubu administration, particularly in education, infrastructure, petroleum refining and other sectors.
He said the coalition would also engage students, warning that beneficiaries of federal programmes such as the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) should not assume that such programmes would automatically continue under future administrations.
“We engage these students, the market women, people from all walks of life. And then we set up a robust platform and we start the campaign door-to-door, house-to-house,” he said.
Mimiko stressed that his support for Tinubu was not motivated by the prospect of political appointment or access to campaign funds, saying he would rather support the President from outside the APC.
“If I wanted political appointment, I’ll run to APC. If I want to share in the largesse of what is coming down for campaign, I will run to APC,” he said.
He added: “We’re not doing this for pecuniary gains. If you know me very well, I’m a very private person by disposition. But to whom much is given, much is expected.”
Mimiko said the coalition was ultimately aimed at promoting a Nigeria in which citizens across ethnic and regional lines could develop their potentials without making political power a matter of ethnic competition.
