The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is confident of victory in Saturday’s election.
Reason: This, said Gen. Buhari, is his brightest chance ever for the job he bidded for in 2003, 2007 and 2011.
He spoke at the Seventh Bola Tinubu Colloquium to mark the former Lagos State governor’s 63rd birthday.
Gen. Buhari attributed his hope at the poll to the “selfless” efforts of Tinubu, who is the main motivator of the merger of major opposition parties into the mega party that the APC became.
Gen Buhari, accompanied by his running mate Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, APC National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and other leaders of the party, came into the Eko Hotel venue as Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola was delivering his address.
His entry momentarily stopped the event.
When Gen. Buhari, who was praised by all the speakers, took the podium, he expressed his appreciation to party leaders and members, saying: “I’m confident of victory.”
He said though the process was awash with money, he was going into Saturday’s election with hope, “because if I could win the primaries without spending money, I will certainly win on Saturday”.
Gen. Buhari admitted that this election is his first genuine attempt to aspire to becoming the president, alluding to the possibility that the journey would end at the State House.
He said: “In the previous attempts, I only ended up at the Supreme Court.”
Gen. Buhari said the APC had come to stay and that the party owes its success so far to Tinubu and former Interim Chairman Chief Bisi Akande.
The APC standard bearer poured encomiums on Tinubu at whose instance the APC family and others was gathered yesterday, saying it was his selflessness and commitment to the cause that led to the successful merger and the formation of the APC.
Friends and associates of Tinubu have used the occasion of his birthday in the last seven years to discuss Nigeria’s problems and proffer solutions.
Gen. Buhari said: “I have great respect for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; he does not consider himself; he is a selfless person who made a lot of sacrifice and commitment to ensure the merger was successful.”
In Tinubu’s view, Saturday’s election will determine Nigeria’s fate in the years to come. He enjoined Nigerians to decide between positive change and continuing with the way the country has been governed in the last 16 years.
He said: “There should be no sitting on the fence; do not try to avoid it. This is the time to believe in the need for change. I am filled with the expectation of a more just and prosperous future.”
Quoting from a speech he made during the last National Convention of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), where the decision to go ahead with the merger was reached, Tinubu said: “I see the need for change. If you have consideration for this nation that gave birth to you, you will equally see the need for change.”
The APC National Leader said the storm ushered in by the formation of the APC had changed Nigeria’s political terrain. He said at the outset, the party’s opponents were skeptical about the possibility of their pulling off the merger successfully. When they saw that the legacy parties were forging ahead, in spite of all the odds, they tried to put up obstacles, such as forming other parties with a similar acronym. “But, they failed,” Tinubu added.
He said before last year’s APC presidential primary, they had derided Buhari, “saying he would never subject himself to a primary. But, he did and won.”
Tinubu said President Goodluck Jonathan had already seen the handwriting on the wall; “that is why he and his party were rejecting the use of card readers”. He said this is evident in the several desperate efforts to hold on to power. In the process, he added, the President is destroying the country’s national institutions.
The APC leader said the time for “common sense revolution” had come. But, in calling for common sense revolution, he said, “I cannot advocate violence”. He said the kind of revolution he is calling for is a revolution to repair and restructure the nation “with our vote”
.
He added: “We must move forward to mold a better Nigeria, out of the clay we have in our hands, the PVC, which means, please vote for change.”
The event was attended by leaders of the party from far and near and friends and associates of Tinubu.
Gen. Buhari’s running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, denied that there was any oath between him and Tinubu to step down for the former Lagos State governor six months after becoming the vice president.
He said after the PDP campaign council made the allegation, Tinubu jocularly asked him whether he swore to the oath at Okija Shrine.
Osinbajo described Tinubu as a team player and astute leader who allowed robust debate by his executive council members when he was governor, adding that he never knew the former governor before he chose him as his Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in 1999.
He also denied the allegations in the hate documentary run against Tinubu by the PDP that “he owns the whole of Lagos – including Oriental Hotel in Lekki. “I know surely that he does not own the hotel because I know the owners and if he owns it, everybody will have a room there.”
Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola said providing electricity is no rocket science. He said the PDP-led Federal Government had failed to provide power because of its lack of vision and went on to enumerate his administration’s numerous achievements in the sector.
Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi described Tinubu as “a strategist and a tactician”. According to the governor, it is rare to see a person who combines both attributes.
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