Thousands of supporters of the National Leader of All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have told the national leadership of the party and other critical stakeholders that the former Lagos governor ought to be given the ‘right of first refusal’ as the ruling party shops for its presidential candidate in the lead up to the 2023 general elections.
They also called on Tinubu to listen to their plea and publicly declare his interest in running for the presidency in 2023.
The supporters made their demands known, yesterday, in Abuja at an event organized by the Tinubu Support Group, TSG, and tagged, ‘Unveiling of Asiwaju’s Legacies and Inauguration of States’ Steering Committees of Tinubu Support Group’.
The event attracted dignitaries from across the federation including Sen. Adamu Mikal and six former state Assembly members from Yobe State; members of the House of Representatives led by Hon. James Abiodun Faleke; Hon. Tunji Bello from Lagos State; Alhaji Sanusi Gamji from Kogi; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr Babachir David Lawal; Senators Solomon Olamilekan, Opeyemi Bamidele, Ganiyu Solomon, Ibrahim Gobir; state assembly lawmakers from Kano and a host of others.
Speaking at the event, Faleke said: “It is not often that history nurtures a particular person to fit into the needs of a particular time. Our party is therefore lucky that it does not need to go on a wild goose chase for the man to fly our party’s flag in these challenging times; a time when the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must go to the person who can continue to end banditry, to crush kidnappers and engage separatists so that our people can live in peace and prosperity. This is a man who will use his financial wizardry to further the gains of economic transformation.
“To secure the votes of the majority in 2023, we must present a candidate who knows where the shoe pinches the average Nigerian, not just because he has been there, but because, as the governor of the most difficult, most complex state in Nigeria, he put smiles on the faces of the poor by convincing the rich to join the government to chase poverty from the streets.
“That man is Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Asiwaju of Lagos, Lagos State. The Jagaban of Borgu, Niger State, The Eze-obaIu-dike ngu of Oko, Anambra State. He is already our national leader. By the practice and standards in other cimes, when the issue of raising a Presidential Candidate is on the burner, such a personality should be given the right of first refusal”.
