2027: Tinubu’s aide claims CityBoy Movement has support across party lines

By Adegboyega Adeleye Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Digital/New Media, O’tega Ogra, has claimed that the CityBoy Movement has been welcomed by a majority of Nigerian youths and has attracted members across party lines, including from opposition parties, ahead of the 2027 general election. Ogra, who is also Deputy Director-General of the CityBoy Movement, a group campaigning in support of President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid, made the claim on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday while responding to questions about the movement’s reach and acceptance among young Nigerians.

When asked about areas where the movement had yet to gain acceptance, Ogra said he was open to discussing any such areas but maintained that the movement had received support from a majority of Nigerian youths. “I mean, if you show me one, I might be able to speak to that. But as far as I know, we have been welcomed by a majority of Nigerian youths,” he said.

Ogra also claimed that the movement had members across the political divide, including people associated with major opposition parties. “We’re a movement that has members across the political space. We have members from the PDP. We have members from Alhaji Atiku’s own party. We have members that have come from Peter Obi’s own party. We have members who belong to Seyi Makinde’s government within our structure,” he said.

Explaining what he believed was driving the movement’s appeal among young Nigerians, Ogra said youths were tired of political leaders who, in his view, made promises they failed to keep and diverted public funds for private interests. “Because at the end of the day, the Nigerian youths, we are done with people telling us lies. We are done with people promising one thing and putting government funds into their private enterprise,” he said.

He further argued that young Nigerians were better equipped to scrutinise political leaders because of their access to information and fact-checking tools. “We’re done with people, you know, trying to play on our intelligence. We are smarter than whatever was in the 1990s or in the 2000s. We have access to news, we have access to information, we can fact check, we can revalidate, we have these things at our fingertips and one thing that we have chosen to do at the City Boy movement, our motto is inform, engage, empower,” Ogra added.