INTERVIEW: Why we're mobilising Christian youths for Tinubu-Shettima's re-election

As Nigeria heads into another election cycle, support groups are aligning behind preferred candidates.

Join the Premium Times WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.

The Christian Youth Movement for Tinubu-Shettima describes itself as a socio-political organisation mobilising Christian youths across the country in support of the president’s re-election bid.

PREMIUM TIMES spoke with its leader, Adeleke Emmanuel.

Below is an excerpt from the interview:

PT: Your organisation is called the Christian Youth Movement for Tinubu-Shettima. Why that name, and are you open only to Christian members?

We chose the name because of the unique circumstances of the 2023 electoral cycle, when the country was sharply divided along religious lines over the APC’s same-faith presidential ticket. We felt that if we kept quiet, religious tension would overshadow questions of competence and national development. The name was meant to demonstrate to the Christian community that supporting a candidate based on governance capacity and long-term vision was not only possible but rational.

That said, we are not an exclusive group. We welcome well-meaning young Nigerians of all religious backgrounds who share our belief in the Renewed Hope agenda. Poverty, joblessness, and insecurity do not belong to any religion, and only a united front of Nigerian youth can address them.

Stay Ahead with Premium Times

Add as a preferred source on Google

PT: What is the aim of your organisation, and how many members do you have?

Our primary mission is to serve as a connector between the government and the people by mobilising, educating, and empowering youth civically. We believe that for democracy to work, young people must be active participants in policymaking, not bystanders.

We have established networks across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, including a diaspora wing. Our database currently holds over 1.2 million verified members, including coordinators at state, local government, and ward levels who can activate grassroots mobilisation in under 24 hours.

PT: Are your members mobilising only for Tinubu-Shettima, or for all APC candidates?

Our identity is closely tied to President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima’s re-election, so we operate within the wider APC family. But our approach is comprehensive. To implement the Renewed Hope Agenda successfully, the president needs a cooperative legislature and stable state-level structures. Our members, therefore, also mobilise for APC gubernatorial, senatorial, and legislative candidates. We believe the president’s success is best served when the party wins at all levels.

PT: Will your group play any role in the coming governorship elections in Osun and Ekiti?

Yes, the South-west remains a critical base for our progressive agenda, and we will play an active role in both states. We will work through our existing state, local government, and ward structures to mobilise grassroots voters, with particular attention to faith-based youth. Our role will be to complement and strengthen local structures, not overshadow them. We will be educating young voters on why the South-west’s continued alignment with the progressive centre under President Tinubu is the most direct path to the region’s development.

PT: The APC recently conducted primaries, widely criticised for irregularities. What is your view?

In a large, deeply rooted party like the APC, internal contests will inevitably be competitive. What is often described as controversial frequently reflects the high stakes and enthusiasm among aspirants. What matters is what happens after the voting. A genuine political family demonstrates its character in its ability to reconcile. We commend the party leadership for establishing internal conflict resolution and reconciliation committees.

For us at the CYM, our responsibility is to unite young people, heal internal divisions, and build a strong front for the general elections. Our driving objective remains a shared triumph for Nigeria’s progress.

PT: What specific policies of the Tinubu administration have impressed your organisation?

What appeals to us is the president’s willingness to confront systemic problems that successive administrations deliberately avoided. Three policy areas stand out:

Local Government Financial Autonomy: For decades, local government areas were starved of funds by state-level interference. This administration’s effort to deliver full financial independence to all 774 LGAs directly localises development and brings governance closer to the youth.

Nigerian Students’ Loan Scheme: This represents a significant shift. It removes financial barriers to tertiary education, ensuring that no talented, but impoverished, young Nigerian is denied access to higher education.

Infrastructure investment: The strategic empowerment of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency and major projects such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway demonstrate an understanding that infrastructure is the foundation of economic growth and youth employment.

PT: Many Nigerians argue that the administration has failed on security and the economy. Are you not concerned?

We would be dishonest if we claimed otherwise. As a grassroots movement, we feel the daily pressures our people face, and we acknowledge the very real fears around security and the economy. But we categorically reject the label of failure.

What Nigeria is experiencing is the pain of a necessary structural overhaul. For years, the country was sustained by an artificially inflated fuel subsidy regime and a distorted foreign exchange market that enriched a small elite at the expense of the nation’s future. President Tinubu had the courage to end that from day one. Any physician will tell you that removing a malignant tumour causes acute pain before recovery. The government is not ignoring public suffering; it is implementing measures to stabilise the economy, boost local production, and reform the security apparatus. That is the more patriotic course — to stand by the surgeon during a difficult operation rather than abandon the theatre midway.

PT: Virtually all regions of Nigeria are now insecure. Even the South-west, once considered relatively safe, is experiencing attacks in Ondo, Ekiti, and Oyo. Is that not reason enough to withdraw support?

Every innocent life lost to criminal elements is a cause for grief, and we do not trivialise the situation. But to say that bandits and terror groups are operating freely dismisses the enormous and largely invisible battle our armed forces are waging daily.

The security lapses we are witnessing are largely the product of a decade of neglected intelligence infrastructure, porous borders, and poorly equipped agencies. This administration inherited these problems. Rather than politicising the issue, the government has been quietly working on structural reforms, including significant investment in geospatial technology, military hardware, and drones to shift our security posture from reactive to anticipatory. It is also addressing the root causes of insecurity — poverty and rural neglect — through youth empowerment and the local government autonomy policy.

The government is also deepening collaboration with state governors to strengthen regional security outfits like Amotekun, enabling a more coordinated and intelligence-led response to border threats in Oyo, Ondo, and Ekiti. Addressing insecurity is a gradual process, but the changes being implemented are significant.

PT: The prices of virtually everything — petrol, rice, garri, millet — have more than doubled since this government came to office. How do you intend to convince Nigerians to back a second term?

We wholeheartedly acknowledge that Nigerians are not smiling. Our members buy the same rice, petrol, and garri, so we experience this directly. But when we speak to Nigerians about a second term, we are not asking them to vote for today’s suffering. We are asking them to vote for tomorrow’s prosperity. Three points ground our argument:

The cost of inaction would have been bankruptcy: Before the president’s inauguration, Nigeria was spending over 90 per cent of its total revenue on debt servicing and losing trillions of naira monthly to fuel subsidy and forex distortions. Without those difficult first-day decisions, the country risked the kind of economic collapse — banks shutting, salaries unpaid — seen in other developing nations.

A shift from consumption to production: Our long-standing dependence on imports is the root cause of rising prices. The government is investing in large-scale mechanised agriculture, solar-powered irrigation, and compressed natural gas conversion infrastructure that aim to cut transport costs significantly.

Structural repair takes time: It is not possible to undo two decades of economic distortion within a few months. However, key indicators are improving — revenue accruing to the Federation Account has doubled, and those funds are being directed to infrastructure, the student loan scheme, and community development through autonomous local governments.

We will convince Nigerians if we can show them the storm has largely passed, that the repairs are working, and that changing leadership midway is, in effect, starting again from scratch.

PT: How would you rate the president’s ministers? Who has performed well?

Generally, we see the cabinet as a technically skilled group working under considerable national pressure. The president’s introduction of a Key Performance Indicator system to monitor his appointees signals that underperformance will not be tolerated. A few ministers have distinguished themselves through high-impact, visible work:

Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo (Minister of Interior): He has driven a significant digital transformation in a traditionally slow ministry — overhauling the passport procurement process, clearing a massive backlog, and reforming the Immigration Service and Nigerian Correctional Service.

Charles Odii (Director-General, SMEDAN): He has been forceful in advancing youth entrepreneurship, widening access to single-digit-interest loans for small businesses, and creating durable platforms for young Nigerians to develop their ideas.

Our organisation was sufficiently impressed with both that we formally recognised their contributions with awards.

PT: If you could speak directly to President Tinubu, what would you say? What policies would you ask him to continue, and what would you ask him to change?

I would tell the president that his willingness to make difficult, unpopular decisions will be what history judges him by. The energetic Nigerian youth who support genuine change see the large-scale work he is doing and will stand behind his vision through to 2027.

But honest loyalty requires candour, not flattery. Here is what I would encourage him to continue with vigour.

The Student Loan Scheme: This policy is keeping many families from the brink. I would urge him to expand its scope to cover technical, vocational, and digital skills institutions.

Local Government Financial Autonomy: This could be the most transformative grassroots policy in modern Nigerian history. Implementation must be strict enough to prevent state governors from finding loopholes that divert funds away from the 774 LGAs.

READ ALSO: Nigerian councillors declare support for Tinubu’s re-election

CNG transition: Rolling out compressed natural gas transport hubs across all 36 states is the most viable solution to transport-driven food and energy inflation. This needs urgent acceleration.

Urgently change or adjust:

Speed of relief delivery: Macroeconomic reforms are necessary, but palliatives, agricultural inputs, and micro-credit loans must reach people faster. Bureaucratic bottlenecks slowing down these interventions must be eliminated.

Naira stabilisation: The Central Bank must implement firmer measures against currency speculation. Exchange rate volatility makes it nearly impossible for youth-led small businesses to plan, import raw materials, or grow.

Cabinet renewal: Ministers who cannot match the president’s pace, or who are failing to communicate their work to the public, should be replaced — preferably with younger, capable Nigerians.

My final word to Mr President would be this: complete what you have started. Keep reforming, but dramatically accelerate the pace of relief. We are behind you.