Tinubu, Shettima, APC Chiefs Shut Down Kano
A huge crowd of party faithful and supporters converged yesterday on the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano for the presidential campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC) standard bearer Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The rally was organised by the Northwest zone of the ruling party.
The stadium was filled to the brim. Many party members and supporters who stayed outside and struggled to force themselves inside were intermittently advised to return home.
Tinubu was accompanied in a caravan from the Kano State Government House to the stadium by officials and players of 5,000 registered and unregistered football clubs from the region.
The procession, which lasted over two hours, resulted in gridlock and shutdown of business activities along the routes leading to the stadium located at Kofar Mata in the ancient city.
When the APC presidential candidate mounted the podium and sighted the sea of heads, he retorted: “I am your own. I am overwhelmed.”
Also, when a song composed in his name was played, an excited Tinubu danced briefly and thanked the people for the rousing welcome accorded to him.
He promised to serve and protect Nigerians at home and abroad if elected as President.
Tinubu said: “I will serve you; I will serve Nigerians and protect all. I will keep my promise. I am overwhelmed; I am here just to dance. Nothing to add. Nagode (thank you), nagode, nagode. So sai.”
The former Lagos State governor said Nigerians should not be cajoled into allowing the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to return to power during the February 25 election.
Tinubu, who also said the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has nothing to offer, warned that a PDP government at the centre would be a return to maladministration.
Aligning with Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike’s claim that Atiku had no integrity, he accused Atiku of establishing a university that is too expensive for Nigerians to attend.
According to statement by his media office, 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 they are the only people that 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 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 the food importation bill for 16 years. What they understand is a ‘consumption economy’ not a ‘production-based economy.”
Tinubu listed some of President Muhammadu Buhari’s achievements and promised to build on them.
He cited the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, particularly in rice production, the Lagos-Ibadan highway, which he said, the PDP failed to fix, and the Second Niger Bridge, among other infrastructure projects.
Tinubu said he would rework the public finance system to unlock the avenues for more revenues for the country as he did in Lagos as governor.
On his plan for the people of Kano State, he promised to consolidate the gains recorded in the agriculture sector and revive the state’s industrial estates.
His words: “For this important Kano city, we shall work with the state government to make it a first-class economic mega city. Also, famous dams such as Tiga, Chalawa Gorge, Thomas, and Kusalla, will get special attention.
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