Omeiza Ajayi, Abuja
Ahead of next year’s general election, a support group for former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has disclosed the resolve of the APC leader to go the whole hog, saying he would not leave the party for any power bloc.
The group, therefore, advised its members not to relent in mobilizing and creating awareness for the presidential ambition of Mr Tinubu.
National Coordinator of the Youth for Tinubu Initiative (YTI), Mr Ajibola Afolayan, gave the admonition on Monday at a news briefing in Abuja.
Afolayan who dismissed speculations that the former Lagos State governor might ditch the ruling party for another political party if denied the presidential ticket maintained that under no circumstance would Tinubu defect to another political party.
He said; “Bola Ahmed Tinubu was one of the founders of the APC. In fact, his resilience, despite all odds ensured the success of the merger of the defunct parties that we now call Legacy Parties. President Muhammadu Buhari has always attributed his victory at the APC Presidential Convention and the 2015 General Elections to the selfless efforts of Bola Tinubu and a few others.
“He has laboured to build APC, and so the issue of abandoning the platform that he built doesn’t arise. He will get the APC ticket because we are sure that it is a payback period for him.”
While acknowledging that the power tussle among the power blocs in the party ahead of its national convention was cause for concern the group appealed to stakeholders to sheath their swords and work as a united political family.
“Although it might be difficult but based on our progressive ideology, we must not allow our selfish interest to override the masses collective interest”, he admonished.
Afolayan who singled out Tinubu among the contenders for the APC ticket submitted that his achievements as Lagos State governor have remained a reference point since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999.
“Based on all these discoveries and assessments, as Youth Entrepreneurs/Politicians across all the 36 states and 774 local governments in Nigeria who want the best for this country, we, therefore, officially declare Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as our presidential candidate come 2023.
“Similarly, we are ordering all our members who are across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria to start full mobilization, awareness and PVC’s campaign registration with immediate effect. In lieu of this, all our resources should be directed towards the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come 2023.
“As a group, YTI can continue to mention the enormous achievements that we discovered. These achievements are not saying he is a saint or he is not in flesh but if a student gets 70%, it is more than a pass mark, it is called a distinction.”
The group, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the acting chairman of APC, Mai Mala Buni to allow transparency, equality, justice, fairness and equity to take charge in deciding on the party’s flag-bearer.