All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on Nigerians not to allow the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) anywhere near the Nigeria’s commonwealth again because of the destruction the party wrought on the country.
From the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999, the PDP ruled the country until 2015 when the APC dislodged the party at the federal level.
Tinubu made the call on Saturday in Lagos at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, venue of APC presidential campaign’s mega rally where he also recalled how Lagos gave him a chance to deploy his talents for national progress and preservation of progressive politics. Tinubu was Lagos State governor from 1999 to 2007.
“I thank the Almighty Allah and the good people of Lagos State for a place to stand, from which I could deploy my talents to mobilise like-minded Progressives to defend this great city”.
The former governor said that his party’s campaign is a broom revolution. And invoking the spirit of his late mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, who was the Iyaloja-General, he followed up with a folksong, singing in Yoruba, “Dagunro o se je, Tinubu o se pa,” meaning literally that he cannot be killed.
Tinubu said he would continue with progressive government where Nigerians would not be forgotten in education, healthcare and employment generation.
Speaking partly in Yoruba, the presidential candidate took a swipe at his counterpart of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, describing him a veteran aspirant who should go home and rest.
“Atiku contested in SDP (Social Democratic Party), he contested in PDP; he contested in ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria) when we rescued him from (former President Olusegun) Obasanjo. Now he is contesting again in PDP. He should go home and rest”, adding that Nigerians should never allow Atiku and his party near the country’s commonwealth.
“Atiku has been running. Use your PVC (permanent voter’s card) to vote him and his party out. Use your votes to retire him permanently this time. We must never again allow the rapacious and visionless gang of Peoples Destroying People to come near our commonwealth again. They were in government for 16 years, they didn’t remember Badagry Expressway, they didn’t remember East-West Road, they didnt remember second Niger Bridge”.
To underscore his support across the country, Tinubu noted that the Governors of Kano, Kastina, Kaduna, Kwara, Kebbi and the APC colleagues were with him, unlike his opponent who, he said, could not hold his party together.
Tinubu again used the opportunity of the rally to thank President Muhammadu Buhari for his commitment to the development of Nigeria and Lagos State.
“I specially thank President Muhammadu Buhari for the unprecedented federal support and commitment to Lagos State. We have come a long way from Presidents whose sole obsession was to capture or conquer Lagos in do-or-die fashion, to a President who loves the state greatly and is keen to see it do very well.
“Lagos has benefited tremendously in terms of infrastructure development, whether it is the Lagos-Ibadan railway line, or the Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonsoki expressway, the revamped National Theatre, the new International Airport Terminal or the support that has made the Lekki Deep Sea Port possible and the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant, as well as the Red Line of the Lagos Metro, which is sharing part of the federal corridor”, he said.
Addressing the massive rally on the importance of sustaining the progressive governance in Lagos State, Tinubu urged Lagosians to vote for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat for a second term.
“Dear Lagosians, my appeal to you today, is to ask you to renew the mandate of Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Kadri Obafemi Hamzat for another four years. Do not let the execution and implementation of the bold vision of more than two decades be aborted or suspended”, he urged.
For the stability of Lagos State, Tinubu called on the youths and students to vote for Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat.
“The lives of over 22 million people are too important to be subjected to tragic experiments in the hands of kindergarten politicians. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Obafemi Hamzat have been schooled in the finest tradition of people-management and development planning”, he said.
Present at the rally were the party’s National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila; vice presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima; and Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Kebbi State Governor, Senator Atiku Bagudu.
Others included the Director-General of the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign and Governor of Plateau State, Rt. Hon. Simon Bako Lalong; Governors Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Adegboyega Oyetola (Osun), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq (Kwara) and Abiodun Oyebanji (Ekiti). Also present were the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola; Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Mr Sunday Dare; and former Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi.
There were also members of the APC National Working Committee, National Assembly members and Ministers.
Welcoming the dignitaries and people of Lagos, Governor Sanwo-Olu thanked Tinubu for the foundation he laid in the state and the legacies he left behind as governor, saying he is the right man for the presidency in 2023.
Bagudu, who spoke on behalf of the 22 APC governors, thanked Sanwo-Olu for the successful rally. “Our party leadership and governors believe in Asiwaju and for the right reasons. The world economy has been challenged, Nigeria inclusive. We need someone of Asiwaju’s standing and pedigree to take over to help the country wade through”, he said.
Gbajabiamila commended Tinubu for his investment in human capacity, saying he has developed more people than any others, adding: “There is a lot to be said about Asiwaju. He is the most investigated Nigerian and nothing has been found against him”.”
Lalong said that Tinubu has the character and capacity to lead Nigeria and ensure equity and justice to all parts of the country, adding that with him and Shettima, Nigerians would have no cause to regret.
