The former Minister of Communications, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu, said on Saturday that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was very lucky to have a salable Presidential flagbearer for the 2023 election.
Shittu, who is the Director-General of Asiwaju Tinubu Presidential Campaign Organisation (ATPCO), made the statement at the inauguration of ‘Jagaban/Shettima Local Government Voluntary Representatives Forum’ and its First National Meeting, held in Abuja.
He said that the emergence of Tinubu as the presidential candidate of APC was the best thing that happened to the party in view of the current challenges bedeviling the country.
Shittu said that the performances of Tinubu when he was the Lagos State Governor were enough testimony to convince Nigerians that ”he is the best candidate for presidency.”
According to him, before Tinubu became the Lagos State Governor in 1999, the Internally Generated Revenue of the state was N700 million per month and within two years he turned it to N50 billion monthly.
He also said that Tinubu introduced compulsory free primary and secondary education in Lagos, including payment of West Africa Examination Council and National Examination Council for all residents of Lagos, irrespective of ethic nationality without discrimination.
” I told a lot of our leaders that we are very lucky in All Progressives Congress (APC), because, we have a salable candidate.
” We are lucky, we have a salable candidate, as Director-General of Tinubu Campaign Organisation, I am excited by the enormous support that people are giving to Tinubu all over the country.
” More often than not, people struggle to belong as if the struggle is for ticket to go to paradise,” he said.
The ex-minister commended the group for sacrificing their energy and resources to put together Tinubu support organizations with membership across the country.
Earlier, Mr Abdulkareem Rasak, the Director-General of the forum, said there was no other person that could lead Nigeria to achieve greatness which Nigerians were clamoring for, other than Tinubu.
Rasak disclosed that the forum had concluded arrangements to begin door-to-door campaigns to cover the 774 Local government areas in the country, to reach out to the grassroots and rural areas.
” We have the plan to train our polling unit representatives in the area of tolerance, perseverance and in understanding choice of people.
” In as much as we want to convince Nigerians, we will not engage in any form of violence or coercion.
” It is absolutely amazing that the doings and the steps of Jagaban and his running mate, Shettima have gingered love amongst Nigerians, which have brought us together from different parts of the country through social media.
” It is indeed a beautiful moment for me to understand that Nigerians need good governance from a leader, irrespective of their religion, cultural and ethnic differences.
” No one support any politician without expectation, our only expectation from Jagaban/Shettima is to deliver good governace,affordable price of food for all Nigerians, unite Nigerians and tackle insecurity.”
Also, the APC National Youth Leader, Mr Dayo Israel, urged leadership and members of the forum to strive to deliver their polling units for the party’s presidential candidate,Tinubu.
Represented by Ms Ummul-Kalthumi Yusuf, he emphasised the need for all supporters of Tinubu to embark on massive mobilisation across all the nooks and crannies of the country.
” Tell your neighbor, market women that attend to you and whoever has his or her PVC to make sure that we deliver our presidential candidate in person of Tinubu, that’s the goal and I’m sure we are more than capable,”he urged.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the high point of the event was the presentation of letter of recognition of the forum as a support group of Tinubu and APC.
The Jagaban-Shettima Local government voluntary Representatives forum is a forum of intellectuals minds that come together to support the presidential flag bearer of the All Progressive Congress for the 2023 Presidential Election. (NAN)
Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani
