Ahead of the 2027 presidential election, the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Sports (NIS), Hon. Philip Shaibu, has said the coalition Nigerians need should be a coalition that would rally behind President Bola Tinubu for his re-election.

The former deputy governor of Edo State, told Nigerians to reject any coalition that is made up of the people that looted the economy of the country.

Speaking when he visited the headquarters of the Tinubu Support Group, TSG, in Abuja, at the weekend, Shaibu also promised to carry out shake-up in NIS to deliver the mandate given to him by President Tinubu to rebuild the moribund institute.

He said Nigeria?s foundation was already broken before Tinubu assumed office, but the President had stepped in with determination to rebuild and strengthen it.

?The foundation of our nation was already broken; one man came and said we must strengthen the foundation. Have you wondered why they are fighting Tinubu? It is because of the foundation,? he said.

According to him: ?We have seen it today that those characters that led to the situation the President is fixing now are now gathering in the name of coalition, so the message now is that the TSG should go and form a coalition for the President re-election in 2027 because we have all seen that just in two years, the foundation of the country is solidified again and we are now talking about building on it.

?So, the only person that can build on the solid foundation that he has laid is the president himself so, we should go back to all our states, all our wards, our units to start educating the rural people, the urban people on what the President has done in two years.?

Shaibu dismissed criticisms from opposition figures, noting that some of them had held positions of power for years without delivering tangible results.

?One of them said he is hungry; he didn?t know when he voiced it out. Someone that was a minister in a good ministry and governor for eight years,? he stated.

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He argued that Tinubu?s policies are bringing renewed hope across all sectors of the economy, stressing that the President?s first four years must be seen as a period of rebuilding.

?Every sector you enter, the man is building renewed hope. Asiwaju is helping us build the future. These characters know because they know it?s not business as usual. The first four years is building the foundation. You can?t build a skyscraper on a faulty foundation,? Shaibu said.

He further said: ?The statistics are adding up now, look at our foreign reserve that was depleted, the economy is bouncing back. The leader of a critical organization in the world, WTO (World Trade Organization), Director General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has made her own comment, World Bank and others are making their own statement on the stability of the country. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has stabilized the country.?

He therefore urged Nigerians to rally behind the President, insisting: ?The only coalition we must agree to is Asiwaju for 2027.?

On his part, the Director-General of the TSG Umar Tanko Yakassai, described the opposition coalition as a gathering of politicians desperate to return to power and continue looting the nation?s resources.

Yakassai, who dismissed the credibility of the group, said most of its members had been in government for decades without delivering meaningful results.

?Coalition is a pack of bags, it?s the coalition of people who want to take over and continue looting. We know most of them since we were kids, all of them have been in government,? he said.

He argued that none of the opposition figures could measure up to the record of President Bola Tinubu, pointing to the President?s achievements in just two years in Aso Rock.

?Someone spent eight years in Aso Rock and has not done what Tinubu has done in two years,? Yakassai stated.

He further held up Tinubu?s legacy as Lagos State governor as unmatched, stressing that his leadership pedigree remained far ahead of those now parading themselves as alternatives.

He, however, pleaded that members of the TSG should be accommodated through political appointments or empowerment to encourage them do more (Vanguard)

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