The candidacy of Pharm. Salaam Adetunji Ayobami for the Mushin Constituency 2 House of Assembly seat is the arguably the biggest uproar of the decade in Mushin Local Government. If nominated as the candidate for the 2023 general elections, it will be historical and trendsetting for APC in many ways.

Ayobami is no stranger to the political world, having been a member of what was
previously known as ACN in 2012 before APC was formed in 2013. However, he
became fervently active in Mushin political sphere in 2017 where his impact and
innovation impressed his leaders so much so that in 2018, he was handed the
responsibility of overseeing the APC reelection campaign in LUTH zone ward K.
Anyone familiar with election records can attest to the landslide victory recorded in that zone where all the 12 polling units (main and satellite) were won. But how did he, an upstart in the Mushin political scene, manage to achieve this?

Alongside his team, Ayobami worked tirelessly, even spending his own resources, on acquiring new voters among the youth. He also helped them get their voters cards in an innovative and seamless way. Being a youth and a leader, he was also able to
educate many youths on the reasons to come out and vote, while also campaigning
the candidates fielded by APC. It was a difficult task no doubt, as there was already
a lot of backlash from the youths because they were against voting for APC, claiming that the country was worse off after President Buhari took over. Ayobami was
frequently accused of being a sell-out, someone bought with money, but he stood his ground firmly and did not renounce his loyalty to the party. There were also
numerous complaints about how political office holders from the Mushin constituency were not doing anything tangible for their constituents. No one was interested in
voting APC.

However, Ayobami worked alongside his team to change their mindset and also
organized programs to showcase what candidates had done and were going to do if they were re-elected. Ayobami was not a candidate at this time, but with a superior
campaign strategy, he was able to gather several new voters who came out during
the general elections to vote for the party’s candidates just because of him.

It is also a well-known fact that Ayobami is the State Coordinator of Ideal Youths
Lagos, a political group founded under the wings of the distinguished Senator
Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon in November 2018 that already had as much as 5,000
registered members across the entire Lagos State at the end of 2019. He is
well-respected by several youths, many of whom were never interested in APC as a party, but deem him extremely capable of leadership that they would gladly be party members just because he is a loyal APC member. As a testament to this, during the
party membership registration exercises in 2018 and 2021, across different local
governments in Lagos, and especially in Mushin, many Ideal Youths Lagos members became card-bearing members of APC as well. Talk about influence!

The number of people and organizations willing to set aside their reservations about APC and politics in general to support Ayobami in both the primaries and general
elections is a big indication of what the turnout will be if he wins the House of
Assembly Ticket. Yes, politics is a game of numbers, and the caliber of youths that
are trooping to Ayobami’s side are not only many but also influential leaders of
several organizations, both in Mushin and across Lagos state. The reality is that if
the party wishes to continue to secure their place at the top when it comes to voting power, it would be wise to field a candidate that can deliver a chunk of the voters in
the coming elections.

The situation on social media when it comes to APC as a party is generally not
pleasant, and if these keypad warriors become active voters, there’s hardly a chance that they will become APC voters. But with a candidate like Ayobami who knows how to transform people from every walk of life into active party members and supporters,the 2023 elections will see a historical massive influx of new voters to the benefit of
APC.