From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The National Leader and presidential aspirant in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has declared that he remains the best person to deliver victory for the party at the presidential election in 2023.
Tinubu, who equally declared that southwest is the next region to produce the president, added that he is the best and most experienced person the region can push forward to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.
The former Lagos State governor stated this on Thursday in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital, while addressing delegates of the party ahead of the presidential primary election scheduled to hold on next Monday and Tuesday in Abuja.
Speaking further at the Presidential Lodge venue of the meeting, Tinubu said he had served and promoted the progressives ideology for the past 25 years and produced most of the current political leaders, hence, his turn to rule the country.
He recalled how he worked assiduously to ensure President Buhari emerged as the presidential candidate of the APC in 2015, after his failed attempts to govern the country, urging the delegates to support him at the presidential primary.
“If not for me that stood behind Buhari he wouldn’t have become the president. He tried the first time, he failed, the second time, he failed, the third the, he failed, he even wept on a national television and vowed never to contest again. But, I went to meet him in Kaduna and told him he will run again, I will stand by you and you will win, but you must not joke with Yorubas and he agreed.
“Since he became the president, I have never got ministerial slots, I didn’t collect any contract, I have never begged for anything from him, it is the turn of Yoruba, it is my turn”, he stated.
Tinubu further said that he had to surrender his slot as running mate to President Buhari, to incumbent Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in 2015, so that the party would not break
“Since the time we started with the Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and now the All Progressives Congress (APC), I wanted to contest for president that time.
“This is me telling you between my life and God Almighty, Buhari called me to be his Vice President. He said because the first time he contested, he picked Okadigbo, flamboyant, catholic, but Nigerians didn’t vote for him. The second time, he picked another Igbo, Omesioke, Nigerians didn’t vote for him, that if he goes to bring the Pope to run as his vice, Nigerians won’t vote for him, but you Bola Tinubu, you have six governors, you have never lost an election before, come and be my vice.
“He knew all the calculations then favoured us, that is why he wanted me as his vice, but I told him to let us build the party first. And when we finished building the party, after we brought in people from the PDP, Saraki now saw those from the PDP will not get anything if Buhari , a Muslim becomes the President and me, also a Muslim becomes his vice, he won’t get the Senate President and the Senate President cannot also be a Muslim, that was how they started the campaign of calumny against me.
“And told them that I have a candidate that is a Christan that I can nominate so that the party will not break, that was how I nominated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. I surrendered my right to to him (Osinbajo).
“It is my time, I’m educated, I’m experienced. I have been serving you for a long time, bring me the presidency, it is my turn.
“When Atiku was being flogged out of PDP by Obasanjo, he ran to me for help, I left the ticket for him. Nuhu Ribadu came to me and I backed him.
“It has been over 25 years now that I have been serving them. This one sitting behind me, Dapo Abiodun, can he say he can be the governor without me? We were together at the MKO Abiola stadium, he was intimated, they didn’t want to give the party’s flag, I was the one that handed the flag to him. He knows that he cannot be the governor without the help of God and my support”, Tinubu submitted.