By Ismaila Chafe
Former National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for demonstrating genuine support and the desired goodwill for the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Oshiomhole made the commendation while addressing State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with the president in Abuja on Friday.
The ex-APC national chairman said he was in the State House to express formal appreciation to the president for his determination and commitment to the APC ahead of the 2023 elections.
Oshiomhole, therefore, lauded the Nigerian leader for his resolve to remain at the forefront in the task of ensuring that the APC retains power for the sustenance and consolidation of its worthy legacies.
He expressed absolute confidence in the ability of the party’s flagbearer to have a landslide victory at the poll.
According to him, all the 23 APC governors are working relentlessly towards the success of Tinubu in the 2023 general elections, while the People’s Democratic Party’s candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has only about seven PDP governors supporting him.
”So, if you ask me how we are doing, we are doing very well. Whereas the other is now battling with five governors that backed out and you find out how many governors they have, we have 23.
”Now, if you add 23 to five, I’m not saying the five are with us, but we have 23 with five, I guess that’s 28. If you subtract 28 from 36, it means only eight governors, in fact, seven, because the other one in APGA is not there.
“So, while he has seven governors working for him, we have 23 working for us and we have five who are neutral. You know when you are voting, when I was in ILO, you vote for, against or you abstain. Abstinence is as good as voting against.
“So, however, you look at it, our campaign is going smoothly and the message is very clear. It’s very clear, it cannot be better.
”You saw us yesterday in Owerri. For me that was perhaps one of the best outings we’ve had.
”You listened to our candidate, you listened to those who spoke in Owerri, some of them offered to contribute towards the campaign because their concerns have been addressed by the APC candidate,” he said.
According to Oshiomhole, Tinubu is being accepted in the Southeast because the APC will continue to address the socio-economic and political interests of the zone,
He said: ”Election is about interest, whoever will address your interests, not religious sentiment, not ethnic sentiment, because hunger doesn’t have religious affiliation; unemployment does not have religious affiliation.
”Whoever will address your concerns, if you are a trader, whoever would make sure that the ports work more efficiently, you don’t have to pay toll to all kinds of people, that is the kind of person you want.
“Government is about providing those assets. We must talk about enabling environment and our candidate has laid out how he will do it,” he said.
Oshiomhole, who is the Deputy Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, believed that Atiku had committed many errors that would pave way for the smooth and easy electoral victory for the APC in the 2023 presidential election.
According to him, the PDP presidential candidate has depleted the opposition party’s chances by offending some of those who ought to be major backers of his campaign. (NAN)
