‘It’ll be disastrous for APC to lose in 2023’

•Tinubu Pledges Innovative Solutions To Country’s Problems
•We’re Set To Crush All Opposition — Adamu 

President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that despite the unfavourable circumstances of global economic downturns, the COVID-19 pandemic and very low international oil prices resulting in low revenue, the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government has “managed to make Nigeria stable and laid a solid foundation for progressive growth.”

This was as the party’s presidential candidate in the forthcoming 2023 general election, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, reiterated his determination to ensure a better and more prosperous Nigeria.

President Buhari and Tinubu spoke at the State House Banquet Hall, yesterday, during the unveiling of Tinubu’s campaign policy document tagged ‘Renewed Hope: Action Plan for a Better Nigeria’ and the inauguration of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) by the President.

At the event graced by hundreds of party faithful, President Buhari stated that in the seven years journey of his government, the party has every reason to be proud of its achievements amid the inherited systemic corruption and local challenges of insecurity.

He stated that electing Tinubu would consolidate the achievements of his administration, saying the presidential candidate has the capacity, visionary leadership and track record to do more.

The President said: “It would be disastrous to allow a situation that will lead to the reversal of the progress our country has made. Let me add that I joyfully accept the position of the chairman of the campaign council we are unveiling today.

“Our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is too well known for his capacity and can-do spirit. He stands tall in his track records as a democrat, a champion of the rule of law, a man at home in every part of our country, and a truly visionary leader. All you need to do is think of Lagos in 1999 and 2022!

“I, therefore, want to assure all party members and supporters of our government that I will be at the forefront of this campaign.

“This election is even more important than the election of 2015 that brought us into power. The cost of losing the gains our country has made is much more than the need to stop the haemorrhage that led to our coming together nearly nine years ago.

“I want to charge every member to put in all their efforts during the next four and half months of campaign to ensure we record a resounding victory in all our elections nationwide. The future of this country is safer in our hands.”

Highlighting the achievements of the APC-led administration, President Buhari noted that under his watch, Nigeria’s security personnel are better equipped and motivated.

He added that the exploits of the Nigerian Armed Forces in the battlefield have led to massive and successive operational successes in the quest to secure the country and provide adequate protection for lives and property of all citizens.

“The efforts of our men and women in the Armed Forces over the last years are beginning to yield positive outcomes. We are gradually taking back our country from foreign-inspired bandits, kidnappers and terrorists in the Northeast and Northwest and other parts of our country.

“We are equally combating separatists, oil thieves and bandits in the Southeast and South-south of the country

“Our administration remains committed to progressively eliminating all flashpoints of insecurity nationwide. We would triumph over the enemies of our country; in whatever forms and shapes they appear,” he declared.

Speaking on his plan for the Nigerians, Tinubu maintained that the country needed an “experienced torchbearer” to guide it through the doors of security, prosperity and greatness.

He stated that he alongside his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, were more than ever ready to hit the ground running from day one if elected.

He said his experience as Lagos State governor where he transformed the state to one of the leading economies in Africa places him in the best position to create a prosperous Nigeria with Shettima.

His words: “It is, therefore, fitting that we are unveiling the Tinubu/Shettima Action Plan for a Better Nigeria today. This Plan is not only a roadmap to a prosperous future, it serves as notice to the Nigerian people that, if elected, Senator Shettima and I shall work tirelessly to reach that promised future from the first moment of the first day we enter office.

“The doors to security, prosperity and greatness are open to us. We must step through these portals, guided by a torchbearer with the experience and mettle to shoulder the task ahead. Nothing short of this will suffice.

“I seek to become the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because I know the way. My experience and past performance assure that. It will be through collective effort and national endeavour that we join hands, cross divides and achieve our vision.”

The APC presidential flag bearer said his campaign roadmap was borne out of interactions with Nigerians across the country who shared their needs and aspirations with him and Shettima in the course of their travelling round the country.

“I ask you to join Senator Shettima and I on this journey. We have traversed every part of our nation, listening to the concerns and yearnings of Nigerians for a more prosperous and equitable society – better able to acknowledge and nurture the dreams of her people. We share the peoples’ desire for a peaceful Nigeria where we all coexist in fairness, prosperity and with balanced representation in positions of authority.

“After visiting and meeting our compatriots; young and old, poor and rich, educated and uneducated, Christian and Muslim; we recognise that no Nigerian wants empty answers to hard questions at this hour.

“The country does not need fancy promises or foreign experiments. Nigerians seek sustained progress and reform through stable governance and proven leadership.

“We need true and innovative solutions that address the specific challenges of each of our 36 states and our over 200 million people. We need our own Miracle on the Niger River,” he added.

The former governor promised that just like he did in Lagos, his administration would provide sufficient jobs with decent wages, revive manufacturing industries, generate, transmit and distribute sufficient and affordable electricity; manufacture, produce and market good quantities of the essential goods and services; export more and import less to strengthen the Naira; make food available and affordable; modernise and expand public infrastructure.

This, he said, his administration would achieve by building on the foundation laid by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Tinubu added: “Based on our unshakable faith in our people and standing on the foundation established by the administration of President Buhari, he would build a Nigeria where sufficient jobs with decent wages create a better life for all and a future of promise for our youth.

He also pledged to “lead and deliver bold and assertive security measures to enable a strong yet adaptive national security architecture that will obliterate terror, kidnapping, banditry and violent crime from the face of our nation.”

Calling on all Nigerians to offer their inputs to his nation-building drive, which he termed “our gift and duty to each other”, Tinubu also praised APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, for strengthening the party as the general election approaches.

National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu, said the APC was set for self-succession in 2023 general election buoyed by “the dint of hard work, perseverance, discipline, good governance and far-reaching policies of the Buhari administration, which has pulled back Nigeria from the brink and stabilised the country.”

Adamu said with the formal inauguration of the PCC, the party was set to crush all opposition on its way to clinching victory during the presidential election next year.

He said: “Let the words go forth this day and from this banquet hall that the APC juggernaut is set to roll through all towns, cities and village squares in the country, crushing all opposition and paving the way for a self succession in the 2023 presidential and general election of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”