Juliet Akoje in Abuja.
A member of the House of Representatives Shamsudeen Dambazau (APC, Kano) yesterday has said that the presidential candidates of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi are spoilers for the 2023 presidential election.
Adding that the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu would emerged victorious at the ballot as the ‘spoiler’ effect would work in his favour.
Dambazau while briefing the press in Abuja on Thursday said though Kwankwaso, a former governor of the Kano state has the political sagacity across the country but he can only have spoiler effect on other candidates to the advantage of Tinubu.
He noted that the spoiler effect where a particular candidate’s presence in an election draws votes from a major candidate with similar politics, thereby causing a strong opponent of both or several to win.
“Is NNPP a force, of course, Kwankwaso is a two-term governor, he has large followership, he has touched people’s lives, well respected in Kano, in Nigeria, he has track record but what I want to bring you back is the spoiler effect”
“With the introduction of these people now, it is a very clear win if you know what you are doing statistically, you can see clearly how Asiwaju Tinubu is going to win 2023”
The lawmaker while speaking about the LP presidential candidate said “appearance can be deceiving, the APC has been tried and tested and even the PDP and most of the people there either come from APC and PDP, and PDP and APC.
“And like I said to you, the spoiler effect, the youths that are there, are probably there for fanfare but when it is time to return to the ballot, their cards and their votes are for Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
Furthermore, he stressed that the APC presidential candidate has the capacity to tackle all the issues confronting Nigerians and that he is very healthy and engage in recreational activities.
“Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the man that has the gravitas, experience to take care of all these issues that are disturbing Nigerians, be them trivial, be them controversial, be them sensitive, to be able to put people together to be able to douse all tensions in different sectors, in different regions of NIgeria”
“I promise you that come 2023, with the circumstances here, if you know about the spoiler effect, then you already know that clearly APC has already won this election by God’s grace come February 2023”
According to him “Tinubu is healthy. There is nothing wrong with him. If you remember last night, Kashim Shettima even mentioned that he is diabetic and has hypertension. But Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has no ailment. He is very fit. Did you not see him dancing Buga? He is well. There is nothing wrong with him”
“Security agencies and candidates for the forthcoming general election to come together and put all apparatus in place to guarantee a violent free polls”
“With the security situation and the threat they are giving, I think it is very important that the security agencies, and not only them, but the candidates that are the ones that have a lot to lose in this situation”
“They are the ones that need to come together to make sure that all apparatus that needs to be put in place to allow the elections to hold peacefully should be done”
The son of a former Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, Abdulrahman Danbazzau said insecurity which started heightening since 2008 has been adequately tackled by the APC administration but more needs to be done by the security agencies who should have a target set for them.
“I think so far so good, this government has done very well. There is room for improvement. More can be done. I think people should be held accountable. There should be set targets, because if you do not have a performance target, then there is no way to review to see how well you have been doing.
“The security agencies have a task to perform. And that task is to secure the lives and properties of Nigerians. If you are not doing what you are supposed to do, you should get changed. That is how it should go. So that people would be on top of their game.
However, he stated that there is no sentiment in play here, so the government is not playing. They have targets that have been given to the security agencies to ensure that Nigerians can exercise their right to vote and put in leaders that they believe would be able to usher this country into the next phase that we want to.
