The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, says he has informed the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), of his intention to contest the presidential election in 2023.
Tinubu stated this on Monday while briefing State House correspondents after he met with Buhari at the Aso Villa in Abuja.
According to him, the President is a democrat and therefore, has not asked him to stop the pursuit of his ambition which for him is life-long.
Tinubu said, “I have informed the President of my intention but I’ve not informed Nigerians yet. I am still consulting and I have no problem consulting and I have not set a parameter of limitation to the extent of how many people will I consult. You will soon hear all you want to hear; it is a categorical declaration. You’ve gotten that truth from me that I have informed Mr President of my ambition.”
The former governor of Lagos State stressed that he has the confidence, vision, and capacity to build on the foundation laid by Buhari to turn around the fortunes of the country.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, in 2021 said Tinubu would make his intention whether to run or not for President known in January 2022.
Of recent, posters and billboards advertising the presidential bid of Tinubu, who was Lagos governor from May 1999 to May 2007, have been seen in major cities, including Lagos and Abuja.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had in October 2021 inaugurated the South-West Agenda 2023, a political movement mobilising support for Tinubu to contest the 2023 presidential election.
Tinubu, who celebrated his 69th birthday in March 2021 and commands an arguably large following of political loyalists, has been reported to nurse presidential ambition in 2023, even as political debates get intense for a southern president after the eight-year regime of Buhari, who is from Katsina State, North-West Nigeria.
Between July and October 2021, while Tinubu was in the United Kingdom for a knee surgery and physiotherapy, over 50 politicians, including the President, six governors, dozens of senators and House of Representatives members, visited him at his London home and turned the place to a Mecca of sort.
In October 2021, the Northern Caucus of House of Representatives, led by Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase, had also paid a get-well visit to the APC leader in London and declared support for Tinubu’s reported 2023 presidential ambition.
Credit: PUNCH