By Sunday Ani
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Periscope Engineering Limited; a consulting and construction firm, Adefemi Kamaldeen Adefemi, has added his voice to those that support the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s quest to contest the 2023 presidency, insisting he has the capacity to lead the country.
Kamaldeen said Tinubu’s capacity to lead Nigeria was not in doubt considering his achievements as governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007.
He stated this in Lagos recently while addressing journalists on his preparation to mark his 41st birthday. He noted that Tinubu’s vision and blueprints were what brought Lagos to the enviable position where other states now look up it as a model of good governance. “When he was Lagos governor, we knew what the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state was and we knew where he moved it to before he left as governor. We also know what places like Oshodi, Kudirat Abiola Way, Oba Akran and other areas looked like and what he turned them to be before he left.
“It takes someone with vision, someone that can look into the future and put his own blueprints down to have good governance. The Lagos Waste Management Agency (LAWMA), Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) and others were all created by Tinubu; even the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) that came to be after his exit was set also in motion by him. He created loads of jobs for the youths. He took a lot of the youths off the street because a lot of them were employed by LAWMA, KAI, LASTMA and other agencies that he created.
“LASTMA today is the envy of many other states. It was after LASTMA that other states like Kwara, Osun, and Kano started having similar agencies. A lot of states look up to Lagos for direction. So, whatever Lagos does is being copied by other states and it was Tinubu that started all the blueprints,” he said.
On Tinubu’s age which his critics have capitalized on, he said: “We have seen a lot of young people in positions and they mess things up. Youth inclusion in governance is important but in this case, it is not about age because Asiwaju has the constitutional right and the capacity to lead Nigeria and I strongly believe that age is still on his side.”
He also said that Nigeria needs a unifier like Tinubu to unite the country at this point when the level of religious and ethnic disunity is at its peak. “Nigeria has never been this torn apart religiously and ethnically and Tinubu is one of the politicians that can unify this country,” he added.
Kamaldeen, a former aspirant to the Lagos State House of Assembly in Ikeja Constituency 2, equally said Nigeria needs Tinubu now because he is a leader that is ready to invest in other people, which is one of the attributes of a good leader. “He has eyes for the right people. Tinubu has the capacity to select the right people and that is delegation of duty. If you delegate the right duty to the right people, then you are good and Tinubu has that capacity,” he said.
