Tinubu To Youths: With You On My Side, We’ll Make Nigeria Excel

All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, yesterday sought the support of Nigerian youths in his bid for the presidency, saying together, they could change the story of the country for the better.

“If YouTube alone has 2.9 billion people following it, including you all standing here, then Nigeria can excel.

“We can do it. You must develop the ‘can do’ attitude. You must believe that this country is yours and you want to change the story,” Tinubu told thousands of youths from the six Southwest states who stormed the Mobolaji Johnson Stadium, Onikan, Lagos for a rally endorsing his aspiration.

“You must change the story of potential, the story of banditry, you must change the story of tribalism,” he added.

Continuing, he said: “Anybody who says we cannot, they can get out, because it is voluntary. We cannot continue the lamentation of the past.

“We cannot continue with excuses of power failure. No nation can make rapid development without electricity.

‘Nigeria, it is about time. We have enough gas to fire up electricity and supply the rest of Europe and make money.

“You know it. We don’t want to bore you with it.

“When I started, we used to pick dead bodies on the streets. But today, Lagos is one of the cleanest, most progressive states in the country.”

He said that with him at the helm of Nigeria’s affairs, challenges such as unstable power supply, banditry, ethnic bigotry would be eliminated.

He told them to revalidate their permanent voter cards to enable them to vote in the 2023 elections.

The former Lagos State governor spoke at a grand rally by youths under the aegis of Progressive Youth of South-West to declare their support for his presidential aspiration at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Onikan area of the state.

The youths from different states in the region, like Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Oyo states, had converged on Lagos in their large numbers to drum up support for the aspiration of the national leader of the party.

Tinubu, addressing the crowd of youths he described as the brightest, urged them to team up with him in his bid to change the story of Nigeria for the youths and tomorrow which they represent.

“We as a nation can conveniently feed ourselves by being creative, visionary and committed,” he said.

He urged the youths to revalidate their permanent voter cards and get ready to vote in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.

Also addressing the rally organised by the Progressive Youth of South-West, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the youth would continue to be critical stakeholders in Nigeria’s socio-political development.

He hailed the rally organisers and the attendees for the event, which he hoped would herald a new dawn in the 2023 polls.

One of the speakers, Dr. Muritala Seriki, said Tinubu’s achievements in Lagos State during his tenure as governor bore eloquence to his ingenuity, hard work and commitment.

I fully support Tinubu’s presidential ambition – ex-NAN MD Onanuga
A former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Bayo Onanuga, yesterday pledged his support for the presidential ambition of the APC national leader.

Onanuga reaffirmed his support while responding to claims that he had switched camps ahead of the 2023 election.

He said he had known Tinubu for a long time and was part of his governorship campaign in 1998.

Onanuga wrote: “My attention has been drawn to some lies being circulated about me as having jumped the Bola Ahmed Tinubu train and being against his presidential ambition.

“The faceless writer, I guess a hatchet hand, wrote: ‘Almost all members of the Tinubu original power/intellectual base and allies when he was governor are not in support of his presidential ambition. Aregbesola, Afikuyomi, Ojudu, Onanuga, Alake, Fasola, etc. Most of them may work for PYO.’

“Let me correct this misrepresentation straightforwardly: the statement is far from the truth as far as I am concerned.

“I am fully in support of Bola Tinubu. I am not in PYO’s camp and will not be in his camp if Tinubu is running.

“People who know me will attest to the fact that I am ever loyal to my friends, loyal to a political cause. I have been on the political left since 1978 when I joined Awolowo’s UPN as a UNILAG student.

“I am not a renegade. And I can vouch for Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi and Dele Alake as well.

“The author of the rumour was merely writing conjectures on an issue that is unpredictable, a party’s primary election, where an outsider will only labour in vain in making permutations.

“As far as I am concerned, and let me say it loud and clear, I am in support of Bola Tinubu’s ambition. I am not against him. He is my first choice, the second choice and the third choice for the exalted seat.

“Nigeria is in need of a visionary, a deep thinker, a man with the Midas touch, who can take our country on a journey of prosperity. This country has suffered enough and really needs a new leader who can breathe fresh air in it and change the way things are done.

“Nigeria needs a man of ideas, who will not just talk his way, but really get things done.

“I have no doubt that Bola Tinubu is capable of this, which is why I support his campaign to lead Nigeria.

“I have known him since 1992. I was part of his governorship campaign in 1998 before others were invited to his government after we won the election in January 1999.

“I was close to his government for eight years and I bore witness to the innovations he brought into governance, the overhauling of the system that he carried out, some of which other states and the Federal Government had copied.

“I have no iota of doubt that he will replicate the same at the centre, and even do more, if given the opportunity. These are the reasons I support his campaign. And Nigerians will hear more about my involvement in the next few days.”