Supporters of national keader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have resolved to double efforts in mobilising and creating awareness for the presidential ambition of the former Lagos State governor.
National coordinator of the Youth for Tinubu Initiative (YTI), Ajibola Afolayan, who stated this on Monday in Abuja, dismissed insinuation of plans by the former Lagos State governor to abandon the ruling party for another political party if denied the presidential ticket.
He maintained that under no circumstance would Tinubu defect to another political party as he expressed conviction that he would emerge as standard bearer given a free and fair primary.
Accordingly, the group implored President Muhammadu Buhari and the caretaker committee chairman of APC, Governor Mai Mala Buni to allow transparency, equality, justice, fairness and equity to take charge in the decision making of the presidential ambition of Tinubu.
Afolayan said, “Bola Ahmed Tinubu was one of the founders of the APC. In fact, his resilience, despite all odds ensured the success of the merger of the defunct parties that we now call Legacy Parties.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has always attributed his victory at the APC presidential convention and the 2015 general elections to selfless efforts of Bola Tinubu and a few others. We are convinced that his network across the geo-political zones would deliver the presidential ticket of APC for him.
“He has laboured to build APC, the issue of abandoning the platform that he built doesn’t arise. He will get the APC ticket because we are sure that it is pay back period for him,” he said.
Afolayan admitted that the power tussle among the power blocs in the party ahead of its national convention was cause for concern the YTI, just as he appealed to stakeholders to sheath their swords and work as a united political family.
“Although it might be difficult but based on our progressive ideology, we must not allow our selfish interest to override the masses collective interest,” he stated.
Singling out Tinubu among the contenders for the APC ticket, he noted that his achievements as Lagos State governor have remained a reference point since the inception of Fourth Republic in 1999.
He continued: “Based on all these discoveries and assessments, as Youth Entrepreneurs/Politician across all the 36 states and 774 local governments in Nigeria who want the best for this country, we therefore, officially declare Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as our presidential candidate come 2023.
“Similarly, we are ordering all our members who are across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria to start full mobilization, awareness and PVC’s campaign registration with immediate effect. In lieu of this, all our resources should be directed towards emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come 2023.
“As a group, YTI can continue to mention his enormous achievements that we discovered. These achievements are not saying he is a saint or he is not in flesh but if a student gets 70%, it’s more than a pass mark, it is called a distinction.”
Credit: Leadership