Former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Adams Oshiomhole yesterday explained why the presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, should succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in next year’s election.
The former Edo State governor also predicted victory for Osun State Governor Gboyega Oyetola during the July 16 poll across the 30 local governments in the state.
Oshiomhole, Edo North Senatorial candidate of the APC in next year’s election, spoke at a rally in Sabongida-Ora, headquarter of Owan West Local Government Area to mark the defection of a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and Governor Godwin Obaseki’s former political adviser and his supporters to the APC.
Peeping at 2023, he said the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa will be defeated because the party has violated zoning and power shift
Explaining why Tinubu should succeed President Buhari, Oshiomhole said having laid a solid foundation for Lagos State, he will replicate the feat in the country, if elected as president.
Oshiomhole also highlighted the achievements of the former Lagos State governor, including successful revenue generation drive, effective traffic control, grooming competent people for leadership, bridge building and talent hunt.
He said: “You knew what Lagos was in those days of military government, when they used horse whips to manage traffic, but the population was not up to what we have today. Then, they had to change vehicle numbers. On Monday, you would use odd numbers, while on Tuesday, you would use even numbers, because the successive military leaders in Lagos at that time had no solution to the traffic challenge
“Then, area boys were occupying under the bridges of Lagos. Such that whenever NLC wanted to organise strike, when we mobilised the area boys, God helping you, if you passed the roads. Tinubu, who was elected as governor in 1999, transformed Lagos, and he is still very relevant. How many of the 1999 governors do you still hear their names?
“In Asiwaju Tinubu, we have a man who looks for brains and people who can think and perform excellently, because nobody will give you what he does not have. Tinubu is a huge political economy school, with many persons enrolling, to be trained, graduate and deployed in their states for greater service to humanity.
“Tinubu recruited and trained Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the Minister of Interior, in his school of government and politics. When Aregbesola became mature, Tinubu deployed him in Osun State and he became the governor. Tinubu also picked a SAN, Babatunde Fashola, made him his chief of staff, tutored him, and when he was leaving in 2007, he allowed Fashola to take over. Fashola excelled as Lagos governor. Grade one. I always call him “My Captain”.
Oshiomhole added: “During Tinubu’s period as Lagos governor and also with Fashola as the helmsman, the area boys were converted to area workers. Under the bridges with abandoned vehicles were also converted to gardens and greens. After Fashola as governor, we had Akinwunmi Ambode and today, we have Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Go to Lagos, you will find four lanes of roads. Do you still see people in Lagos, using horse whips to control traffic anymore? With Tinubu as Nigeria’s president in 2023, Nigeria will turn around for our good
“Tinubu is politically smart. When they seized Lagos State’s local governments’ allocations, because Tinubu wanted to ensure true federalism, which Nigerians are talking about today, he stood and defended the rights of states to create local governments. The then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, seized Lagos State’s local governments’ funds for more than one year. The Supreme Court ordered the release of the funds, but Obasanjo’s government refused.
“The local governments in Lagos state never went on strike for one day, because Tinubu internally generated revenue to pay the local governments’ workers their salaries. From Lagos State’s Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR) of N600 million a month, it is now over N40 billion monthly, courtesy of Tinubu’s efforts. Without Abuja’s monthly allocations, Lagos state is working.”
Oshiomhole said Nigerian leaders should always care for the masses.
He said: “We want to go with new ideas, so that our country can work. Not because we like the people, but if we do not like the people, they will consume us. When you are the only man who has food to eat, those who are hungry will convert you to their own food. So, it is a matter of common sense to re-plan, re-budget and ensure that what we do, we do not do them because of ourselves, but we do them, because of the vast majority of the poor of Nigeria.
“Trust is the most important gift any people can give to a leader. May it not be said that we have the opportunity, but we miss it.
“I am assuring you that you will be proud, when I am on the floor of the Senate in 2023, God willing. What does anybody know that I have not seen. Without state powers, as President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), I fought for justice. I fought that petrol and kerosene should not be above the reach of the ordinary man.”
The ex-national chairman of APC also pleaded with Edo residents and other Nigerians to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and massively vote for candidates of the party during the 2023 polls.
He said: “APC members and residents of Edo State who want the party to win during the 2023 and 2024 general elections must obtain their PVCs. Nobody wins elections until the votes are cast. You cannot cast votes during elections, unless you have PVCs
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has indefinitely extended the period of registration for PVCs. Residents of Edo state must take advantage of the opportunity. The people who are talking of change in government without PVCs, are only doing shakara.
“I can assure you that during the 2023 elections, there will be peace and harmony, because there will be no cheating or rigging. It will be one man/woman, one vote. There will also be cameras at the polling units. The days of wuruwuru, where results of elections are written in the bedrooms of politicians have passed. Thanks to INEC. The electoral commission will continue to improve. Nigerians’ votes will count. As you are voting, the results are going to Abuja centre of INEC.
“No matter how busy you may be, go and register and obtain your PVCs, which are your weapons to punish and reward politicians. Massively vote in 2023, for APC to retain power.”
Oshiomhole also hailed the six APC’s local government chairmen, the youth leaders, women and other members of the party in Edo North Senatorial District, for supporting his senatorial aspiration, promising not to let them down.
Chiding the PDP for insensitivity and violation of zoning, Oshiomhole said:
“The bold decision of Northern APC governors on 2023 presidency indicates that they are consistent and courageous. PDP governors went to Asaba, and said in the afternoon that 2023 president in 2023 must come from the South, but before they reached Nnewi, an Asaba man had transferred the presidency to the North, and he made himself the vice president. Persons who murdered truth will not be able to sleep.
“Always thank and bless the APC Northern governors and President Muhammadu Buhari, who decided that the next president must come from the South. So that nobody will feel that he is forgotten. The strength of a system depends on its ability to acknowledge and protect the rights of persons who seem to be minorities in the eyes of men. APC is superior, because when the leaders talk, they deliver.”
The ex-national chairman of APC also called for unity among members of the governing party, in order to move forward.
He said: “We will fight and defeat poverty. It is not God that makes people poor. Bad policies generate poverty. I am assuring you that poverty will go, through all of us working together. United we stand, divided we fall. United we win, divided they will suffer, because they are divided now, while we are united.
“Some PDP leaders boasted some weeks ago that they were battle tested and battle ready, not battle weary. Few weeks later, they started shouting that they needed peace. The way we defeated PDP in Ekiti State, we are still going to defeat PDP in Osun State. It is a new world. There is a limit to how much you can do. The voters do not do press conferences. They speak once in four years.
“May God use you (APC members) to benefit from the disunity in PDP, and to use you to consolidate our unity. We will use the broom to sweep them away. APC will continue to go higher.”
Oshiomhole also hailed the leadership style of Tinubu, which he said was worthy of emulation.
He said: “So, it is in our interest that we reinvent and refocus governance, and put the rural people, the young people and the elderly as the focus of government’s activities. That is my mission and commitment. God using me, through you, that we will do, because Nigeria must not be allowed to fail, but to fulfil its mission to deliver the black race, beyond the boundaries of Nigeria.
“I want to thank you for the delegates that you sent to Eagle Square, Abuja to nominate by election, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the standard bearer of APC for the February 2023 election, and by the grace of God, the next President/Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“You left your work and you are under the sun. I want you to take a message home. Asiwaju Tinubu, the Jagaban of the universe, is now the presidential candidate of APC. In politics, when somebody says I shall do this and that, you must ask what the person has done before.
“I have a basis to promise, because I so believe that with Tinubu as president, he will do many things and move Nigeria forward.”
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