*Describes Atiku as ungrateful wretch who repays good with evil
Segun James
As the race for the 2023 general election hots up, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has told the opposition that he can’t be killed or intimidated out of the race for the presidency, even as he accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar of being an ungrateful wretch who repays good with evil.
Speaking in Yoruba, Tinubu told his detractors that he is like Dagunro, a poison ivy, which cannot be eaten as a vegetable, and that any attempt to do so will be disastrous.
While referring to the opposition candidates, Tinubu said, “This election will be about brooms revolution. You can’t kill me as you killed others,” he boasted.
An emotional Tinubu accused Atiku of waging a campaign of calumny against him, even as he accused the PDP candidate of being a serial defector who keeps running from one political party to the other, and yet, never shows gratitude to those who had helped or accommodated him along the way.
Tinubu who made these allegations Saturday at the Lagos APC Presidential Rally held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, told his supporters to retire Atiku finally from the political field with their PVC.
“Use your PVC to vote him out,” he urged the people. He also mocked the PDP for not having anything to show for their 16 years at the helm of the nation’s affairs.
He said that in the years that the PDP was in power, the party never completed any major projects that can be pointed to.
“This election will be about the broom revolution. You can’t kill me as you did kill others. I know one man, Atiku, who has been contesting since 1999. He ran under the PDP, under the Action Congress (AC), we gave him the platform but they repaid us with evil. Tell him to go and sit at home. Use your PVC to retire him this time around in 2023.”
Speaking to the mammoth crowd that witnessed the rally, he said that the PDP in their 16 years never remembered to construct the Second Niger Bridge to the eastern part of the country nor the East/West Road that connected the south-south to other parts of the country.
Speaking, the Director General of APC Presidential Campaign Committee and Plateau state Governor, Simon Lalong, said that Tinubu is the best among the candidates jostling for the presidency, saying that he stands above all others.
In his comments, APC chairman, Abdullahi Adamu said, “Lagos has spoken and you have spoken well, you have come out en masse to show support. I’m appealing to you that it’s not over until it’s over. It’s not done until it’s done. APC has chosen a good candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He is the president in waiting. Vote for him”
Also speaking, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila said, “We have come to energize the base. As you are energized, go out there to energize the spring voters. Everyone here is “Batified.” Tinubu is the greatest politician in modern-day Nigerian politics.
“For those who doubt his age, tell them to go and meet his mother in the grave. He is the most educated candidate among the presidential candidates.
“I want to tell our South East and South South brothers, it is time to invest in Tinubu.”
The Chairman Progressives Governors, Bagudu said, “I stand here on behalf of all the APC Governors, I thank Lagosians for putting their trust in Asiwaju. Our party believes in Asiwaju.”
He explained that just as the country is currently challenged, Tinubu would transform Nigeria as he did when he emerged as the Lagos Governor in 1999.
Among the dignitaries at the carnival-like event, with the mammoth crowd, numbering thousand, are the Minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammad, members of the APC Governors’ Forum of Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Kwara, Katsina, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Kaduna, Jigawa, former Ogun State Governors, Segun Osoba and Gbenga Daniel, Lagos West Senatorial candidate, Idiat Adebule, Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa and his deputy, Wasiu Eshilokun, who is also Lagos Central Senatorial candidate, and Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Patricia Etteh, members of the APC National Working Committee, NWC, including APC, National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State.
Others included: Director General, DG, of the Local Organising Committee for the Presidential Campaign in Lagos State Campaign Council, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, wife of Lagos State Governor, Dr. ibjioke Sanwo-Olu, wife of the deputy governor, Remi Hamzat, former deputy Governor, Lagos State.
Others are Former Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Prince Abiodun Ogunleye, former deputy Governor of the state, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, Lagos APC chieftain.
Others are the Former Minister for Health, State and now Minister for Science and Technology, as well as former Speaker of Lagos House of Assembly, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora, among others which include: both Christian and Muslim sects.
Leaders of Nollywood in the entertainment sector, led by Yonka Qiadri, Saheed Balogun and Taiwo Hassan, popularly called Ogogo, and Bimbo Daramola, among others, were on the ground.
As early as 7 am the entire area was packed with supporters clad in different colours and brooms of the party symbol, chanting solidarity songs fur Tinubu and APC.
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