Udora Orizu in Abuja
Ahead of Saturday’s presidential election, kinsmen of former President Goodluck Jonathan, have again called on Nigerians to vote for a Southern President to ensure a balance.
The kinsmen who are members of
Citizens Network For Peace and Development in Nigeria (CNPDN), in a press statement signed by the National Secretary, Chief, Francis Okereke Wainwei, said Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the right fit the position.
He said the victory of Tinubu will strengthen and foster national unity and cohesion. He said their support is premised on track-record and capacity to prioritise the interests of Nigerians above his personal and sectional interests.
“Tinubu recently demonstrated this fact by standing on the side of the masses with respect to the current Naira scarcity being experienced nationwide,” the statement read.
Ir continued: “While the other frontline presidential candidates are hailing the Federal Government for the hardship Nigerians are experiencing, as a result of the cash crunch because they feel that the policy is targeted at Tinubu, irrespective of the fact that it’s the masses that are suffering and dying as a result of the cash crunch.
“This attitude of the other frontline Presidential candidates is showing clearly that they are not interested in the welfare and plight of the masses but just their unbridled selfish ambitions to be President.
“They have no sympathy for the plight of the masses and don’t care what happens to the masses.As far as they are concerned, it’s their presidential ambitions that matter but in contrast, Tinubu stood up for the masses against the Federal Government formed by his party.
“This is characteristic of Tinubu as he is known to have always fought for the masses.Tinubu is the only presidential candidate among the current candidates that has always fought on the side of the masses.He is the only presidential candidate among the current ones that fought for the emergence of the current democratic dispensation.
“Tinubu is the only presidential candidate among the current ones that can unify the country and bring to pass the position of the Northern All Progressives Governors’ forum and that of the Southern Governors’Forum on power shift to Southern Nigeria.
“Power shift to Southern Nigeria is the consensus of the majority of Nigerians,who believe in the future of this country because they believe that it is the best means of strengthening our national unity and cohesion.
“It’s therefore,our clarion call for all patriotic Nigerians to support power shift to Southern Nigeria by massively voting for ALHAJI Bola Ahmed Tinubu , the only presidential candidate from the South that has structures across the country with the requisite political experience and competence to enthrone accelerated development of the country.
“As patriotic citizens under the auspices of the Citizens Network For Peace and Development in Nigeria , we believe strongly that a united,peaceful and prosperous nation should be the ultimate interest of all patriotic and well-meaning Nigerians. Therefore, supporting power shift to Southern Nigeria and voting massively for Tinubu to win is a patriotic call for the peace and prosperity of this country.
“We consider it as very important and necessary to make this patriotic call because Nigeria needs a truly visionary,competent and detribalized leader to enthrone a more united,peaceful and prosperous nation.
“As patriotic citizens we feel obliged to take some proactive measures to ensure that the right president is elected,come Saturday 25th of February,2023 by providing proper information and guidance that will enable Nigerians elect the right candidate as president.
“We therefore, took it upon ourselves to do thorough investigations,opinion sampling and interviewing of major stakeholders from across the country to know the exact mood of the nation ,to enable the electorate make the right choice for the 2023 presidential election.
“We also took into consideration the declarations of both the APC Northern Governors’ forum and that of the Southern Nigeria Governors’ forum ,with respect to which part of the country that should produce the next president in 2023.
“The both groups declared that power should shift to Southern Nigeria for the purpose of promoting equity,justice and fairness ,which they argued would strengthen the unity of the country.
“After a proper analysis of the declarations and opinions of various groups and stakeholders across the country, we came to the conclusion that for the peace,unity and progress of this country,a competent and experienced presidential candidate from Southern Nigeria be elected as president, come Saturday 25th February, 2023.
“This is to strengthen the fragile unity we are experiencing at the moment, as a nation. It will appease some groups and individuals agitating against the political domination of others by any one part of the country.
“We went further to examine the capacity,competence,political experience and nation-wide acceptability of the presidential candidates from Southern Nigeria ,and we discovered that Alh.Bola Ahmed Tinubu , the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress tops the other candidates.
“We are therefore,using this medium to call on all patriotic Nigerians to support and vote massively for Alh.Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president on Saturday,25th of February, 2023,i that is the best interest for Nigeria at the moment.
“Furthermore,our choice of Bola Tinubu is strongly premised on his wealth of political experience, intellectual sagacity, a knack for identifying and recruiting competent people and the capacity to mobilize human and material resources for the accelerated and holistic development of the country.
“We believe strongly that the next president of this country should be someone who firmly believes in the philosophy of “building the people, to build the nation”, he should be a people-oriented president.
“Tinubu fits perfectly for the kind of president Nigeria needs in the next dispensation.He has the capacity and the wealth of political experience to replicate the success story of Lagos State engineered by him, for both the economic and political stability of this country. He is a national patriot and a detribalized leader that has the visionary mindset to build a prosperous,strong, peaceful and united Nigeria.”
