By Ahmad Muhammad, Kano
All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, continued his nationwide campaign rally in Kano, yesterday, urging people of the state to vote him in next month’s presidential election.
Tinubu, who had been in Kano since midnight of Monday, where he met with Muslim leaders from the northwest in a town hall meeting on Tuesday, said he has what it takes to continue the developmental strides started by President Muhammadu Buhari after the 16 inglorious years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in power.
A mammoth crowd of supporters had thronged the Sani Abacha Stadium, Kano venue of the rally.
An elated Tinubu said all he wanted to do was just dance. And while dancing to a Hausa music, he thanked the people, saying in Hausa: “Mungode, mungode, mungode.”
In his prepared text, he told Kano State people not to be deceived by allowing the PDP return to power under any guise as, according to him, it would be a return to maladministration in all areas.
He accused the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, of not having anything to offer, after being part of the PDP administration that plundered Nigeria’s wealth as Vice President.
According to the APC flag bearer, River State Governor, Nyesom Wike, was right after all when he declared that Atiku had no integrity.
He accused Atiku of establishing a university too expensive for Nigerians to attend while in office as Vice President.
Tinubu said he has continued to refute lies concerning his health by his continuous participation in the campaigns, the most rigorous of all the political parties.
In attendance at the rally were the party’s National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu; vice presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima; Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan, and Chairman, Progressives Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kebbi, Senator Atiku Bagudu.
There were also the Director- General of the Tinubu-Shettima Campaign and Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, as well as Governors Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), Aminu Masari (Katsina) and Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), among others.
Tinubu said: “We can make Nigeria better, safer and more prosperous. We can educate our youth, feed our people and put an end to fear. We can do these things. We can move you forward.
“But the others cannot. They want to hold you back, so that only they can move forward. They offer nothing but fake promises and easy answers that hold no water. All they can show you is how to hate your fellow Nigerian and reject your neighbour.
“But they cannot show you how to protect our society, feed our people, provide jobs and care for those in true need of help.
“Let me say this clearly and plainly. This campaign is about our collective march to a better Nigeria. Do we march forward? Or do we lose sight of the road?
“We must march forward. But we cannot forget how they frittered away our commonwealth. For 16 years, they toyed with our lives and the future of this country. They spent $16 billion on electricity, but they procured darkness instead.
“They didn’t remember the pipelines and processing facilities to give us electricity. They shared the electricity generation money among themselves and their cronies.
“Neither he nor his party can keep their promise. Tell me how will they keep their promise to the nation. No wonder, their party is in tatters! Governor Wike was right when he talked about a lack of integrity, saying, ‘look at the man and his history.’
“Their contribution to institutional-building is to create an electoral commission to rig elections, not to conduct transparent polls, and to establish Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to witch-hunt political opponents, not to fight corruption.
“PDP and its candidate do not have your interests at heart. They do not mean well for you; they do not mean well for the country. They mouthed Green Revolution, but their regime only worked to increase food importation bill for their 16 years. What they understand is ‘consumption economy’ not ‘production-based economy’.”
Source: The Guardian