“I just finished performing the Umrah. I did the seven rounds of tawaf and the seven trips between Safa and Marwa by myself”
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress, has once more boasted about his health and fitness, stating that no sick person could do seven trips as he did at Umrah.
Shortly before his trip to Saudi Arabia, Tinubu made this claim in an interview with Kano’s independent radio station, Freedom Radio.
Unlike the Hajj, which has set dates according to the Islamic calendar, the Umrah is an annual pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims.
The former governor of Lagos State was welcomed with open arms as he landed at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja on Sunday night.
The APC candidate argued that his detractors had nothing to offer other than lies and speculative claims and that he is qualified to hold the post of president.
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He said, “I just finished performing the Umrah. I did the seven rounds of tawaf and the seven trips between Safa and Marwa by myself. Can a sick person do that? That is stale, news my brother.
“People who are making those insinuations have nothing else to say but lies and rubbish. I have moved around and, spoken at different platforms and stood for hours to address different audiences. Before they said I could not walk. They said I could not stand but they are shamed.
“Since the campaign started I have marshaled more original ideas than anyone else. I have demonstrated knowledge, experience, and a great capacity to be on top of issues in the country. And this job is about ideas and issues regarding the leadership of our country. I have all it takes to be the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and I am asking the people of the country to have confidence and respect for that, look at my background and my previous assignments. I want to serve the country and serve the country very well.”
He said that his Umrah journey was a spiritual rebirth and said that the nation is in desperate need of prayers.
“It is a personal trip. It is a trip for spiritual rebirth. I like coming to perform the Umrah now and then. It is an opportunity to connect with almighty Allah, Lam ya lid wa lam yulad. We need his guidance. Nigeria needs prayers and that is why we are here praying for our country, self and the society.”
This is even as he defended his introduction of town hall meetings and political engagements, saying holding rallies across the country is not enough to win the 2023 presidential election.
“We are reaching each and every Nigerian. We decided that rallies are not always enough. We need to engage all Nigerians from all parts of the country and across all sectors of our socio-economic life. We have engaged businessmen, farmers, miners, industrialists, entertainers, labour leaders and so on.
“By the engagements we are having, it is clear that we are going to win this election. As the elections are coming closer the signs are clear and that is why our opponents are jittery. They have now resorted to peddling fake news and quoting some of my statements out of context just to score cheap points.
“Recently I was asked about fuel subsidy removal and I said I will ensure we end the wastage and re-channel the money to the people who truly need it. This is one position that almost all the candidates are united about. We all agreed that the subsidy regime is abused and it favours the rich more than the poor. It has to go. I couldn’t have opposed people expressing their own position on this.
“I believe in consultation and guaranteed by democratic values and norms. I respect the opinions of people and I would not be a party to stifling dissenting views or any legitimate protest. I am a veteran of protests myself. So why should I say people should not embark on well-intentioned protests? There is no excuse for that and there is no abuse of power intended,” he said.
