The presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Thursday said that the January 1, 2023 endorsement of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, by the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, amounted to poison for Nigerians.
Besides, Tinubu added that Obasanjo took that decision out of hatred for his person (Tinubu) and cheer wickedness, stressing that despite the endorsement, he would still beat all the candidates for the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
Tinubu who stated the above in Benin during his campaign at the University of Benin Sports Centre, disclosed that he and his team while he held sway as the governor of Lagos State were challenged intellectually, when Obasanjo, as the president then, withheld the allocations of Lagos State over the issue of creation of Local Council Development Authority (LCDA), in the state.
The seizure of the state allocations, Tinubu said, made him to think outside the box and made him and his team to turn Lagos State to a mega state it is today.
The APC presidential standard bearerer assured that if elected, he would replicate the feats he achieved in Lagos State, pan Nigeria and change the fortunes of the nation for better.
He used the occasion to berate the Edo State Government for allegedly pulling down all the billboards for him in the state, insisting that he would win the presidential elections even without his billboards in the state.
His presidency, Tinubu assured Edo people, would bring economic hub to Edo State, that could turn young people into internet fraud to experts in manufacturing and creation of chips.
“We can break shackles of poverty, shackles of ignorance, shackles of homelessness. We will do it together. We have the knowledge and the brain.
“Trust me, I am an expert in finding the way where there is no way. I found a way to tame the Atlantic Ocean and turned it into a money-making machine. I found the way to stop the killing drainages to channelisation and prosperity. I have done many things. I have the power of thinking and doing.
“If you want prosperity, elect me. If you want skills to become rich, elect me. If you want security, elect me. If you say I should retire, you will retire with knowledge, diamond and gold,” he added.
“Obasanjo seized our salaries, local government monies. Do you call that person a good or a wicked man? So, if he says he endorsed somebody, is it not poison that he is giving to you? One who doesn’t know the way cannot show the way. He is endorsing Obi but he doesn’t know the road,” Tinubu said.
In his remarks, Adams Oshiomhole, former National Chairman of APC, solicited votes from Edo residents, saying that the former Lagos State governor had good track records and was instrumental in the fight against a single-party system.
State Chairman of APC, Col David Imuse (rtd), lamented the situation in the state saying there was no presence of the legislature in the state government.
Meanwhile, the Edo State Government has lampooned the immediate past National Chairman of the APC and former governor of the state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, for attempting to sell lies and bamboozle the people of the state during the party’s presidential campaign in the state.
Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, In a statement said Oshiomhole attempted to sell lies in a last ditch effort to revive his dead political career.
The statement, which is a reaction to Oshiomhole’s statements at the APC rally reads:
“It was tortuous to watch the shameful outing of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rally in Edo State as they hosted the party’s flagbearer in the 2023 presidential election at the University of Benin Sports Complex, Ugbowo Benin City, with the party’s ousted National Chairman Comrade Adams Oshiomhole attempting to sell lies in a last ditch effort to revive his dead political career.
“While Edo people’s rejection of the APC and their candidate was obvious by the poor turnout at the rally and the soulless atmosphere that enveloped the complex, it is quite telling what fate awaits the APC in the general elections in Edo State next month.
“It is pertinent to stress that the outdated politics of trying to replace facts and truth with lies and falsehoods – as was done by Oshiomhole in his lame speech and the contemptible reference to fixing erosion in the state – has been vanquished in Edo State and across Nigeria.”
“The people are no longer swayed by empty rhetoric and concocted lies, which has overtime been the bane of the poisonous politics that deprive the people of good governance while the political class fed fat from our collective patrimony.
“Oshiomhole’s political career has ended and no matter how high he jumps on a stage or how low he goes to impassion the scanty crowd, the people see through his facade and recognize his ill-intentioned antics and lies. The former governor’s political career was effectively truncated at the polls in the 2020 governorship election in Edo State, which was a referendum on his style of politics”.
Osagie added, “The last ditch effort to distort facts, sell lies and paint himself a savior and liberator to hoodwink the people will never work. Edo people know better and will continue to reject the APC at the polls, a feat that is sure to happen during the elections next month when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will emerge victorious.”
