A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir Lawal, has said that the entrance of a former Lagos State Governor, Sen. Bola Tinubu, into the 2023 presidential race will “bring light at the end of the tunnel“.
He said this on Monday in Abuja at a conference convened by the Support Groups Management Council (SGMC) of Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) to harmonise strategies and drum support for the actualisation of Tinubu’s presidential ambition in 2023.
Lawal, who was the chair of the conference, said Tinubu was not only adequately prepared to be Nigeria’s next president, but would also emerge victorious regardless of the mode of primaries adopted by the APC to pick its candidate for the polls.
He said delivering Tinubu as APC’s flag bearer for the 2023 presidential poll should be seen as a task for all the party’s members.
“And this we will do, be it through consensus, indirect or direct party primaries, by the grace of God.
“We are neither offended nor threatened by whichever method the party chooses to adopt for the emergence of its presidential candidate.
“But of course, being democrats, we prefer a method that involves all the card-carrying members of the party in this process.
“Our task, beginning from today, is to develop a smart strategic plan that we will faithfully execute to deliver Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu as APC candidate and thereafter deliver him as the landslide winner of the 2023 presidential election,” he said.
The former SGF said Tinubu had no equal in terms of suitability.
Lawal, while describing Tinubu as brilliant, tested and detribalised, said he was a proven excellent manager of both financial and human capital.
“Above all, he loves Nigeria and has a clear vision of where the country should be and he knows how to take her there.
“Let us work tirelessly, faithfully and earnestly give our country, Nigeria a bright and an economically prosperous future where people of every tribe and religion will feel free, safe, secured and loved.
He expressed optimism that Tinubu would lead the country to a brighter future if he became president, adding that the APC would be the platform as the preferred option.
Also speaking at the event, a former Governor of Borno, Kashim Shettima, asked President Buhari and the APC to see the presidential ambition of Tinubu as pay back time for what he did for the party in 2015.
Shettima recalled that it was Tinubu that ensured the emergence of Buhari as APC presidential candidate that year.
“In 2015, some aspirants with a very huge war chest were itching to cling to the ticket of the APC and like the Rock of Gibraltar, Asiwaju and his progressive team stood solidly behind the candidacy of Buhari,” he said.
Shettima, who represents Borno Central in the Senate, however, said that power should shift to the South in 2023 for equity, justice, as well as fairness.
He said that Tinubu should be given the choice of first refusal because he had sacrificed more for the APC.
While dismissing what he described as mischievous fixation on Tinubu’s age and the conclusions that he was physically unsuitable for the office of the president, Shettima said the presidency was not an Olympic Games.
“We are not here to prepare for the Olympics, but an institution that relies on the superiority of ideas to thrive,” he said.
He said that Tinubu was a tested, accomplished and large hearted political leader who had invested his resources in building an extensive network of political mentees.
This, he said, included Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing; Rauf Aregbeshola, Minister of Interior; Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture and Gov. Fayemi Kayode of Ekiti, amongst others.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference was attended by delegates of BAT Support Groups from across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). (NAN)
