Agency reports,
’I’m more than healthy to lead Nigeria if elected at the February 26 presidential poll”, All Progressives Congress (APC) standard bearer, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu said at the weekend.
The former Lagos governor, who described the rumour peddlers as ill-informed, said he is smarter than his accusers.
He promised to give governance 100 per cent commitment if given the mandate to lead.
Tinubu spoke at a dinner organised in his honour by the Kano Business Community Council during an interactive session with members of the Tijjaniyyah sect.
According to him, his victory at the poll will end the ill-wish from his detractors.
He told his hosts: “I’ve been standing before you, I’m not running for hundred yards or 500 yards hurdle. I’m running for the presidency. I’m not competing in WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). Even if I go out there and they say (he is) sick, I’m standing before you. Do I look like a sick man?
“Nigerians, put me out of their reach. Vote for me 100 per cent. They will stop complaining because I’m smarting than they are.”
The APC candidate promised to devote his time and energy to the service of the country and the people, saying there would be no measure no half-measure of commitment on his part to the course and development of the country.
Tinubu said he won’t be a part-time President who will share his time between living in Dubai and Nigeria, adding that he would concentrate his attention and energy on confronting and surmounting Nigeria’s pressing challenges.
“I will give Nigerians 100 per cent of my time, not 50 per cent in Dubai and 50 per cent in Nigeria,” Tinubu’s media aide, Tunde Rahman, quoted him as saying in a statement.
The Tijjaniyyah sect members, led by Sheikh Bashir Tijjani Usman Zangon Bareebah, presented a long list of issues that Tinubu should address if elected next year.
Top on their wish-list is improved electricity, full security, giving agriculture full attention, including provision and completion of dams and improved quality education for Nigerians.
Giving their full endorsement and support to the APC presidential ambition, the sect demanded that the Tinubu presidency should ensure the inclusion of their members in cabinet and other government appointments, reduction in Hajj fares and assistance in concluding the Tijjaniyyah University under construction in Kano.
Tinubu said his manifesto, which was unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday has already addressed the answers to some of the demands.
He assured his audience that he is running to be the president because of his commitment to better the lives of all Nigerians.
Tinubu was accompanied to the meeting by his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima; Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) Chairman and Kebbi State Governors Atiku Bagudu; his colleagues Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano); Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa); Bello Matawalle (Zamfara); Babajide Sanwo-olu (Lagos); pioneer APC Interim Chairman Chief Bisi Akande and some members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
Ganduje, who expressed optimism on victory for the APC, highlighted some landmarks of the ruling party at the national and state levels.
“Is it the Inland Dry port that has been ongoing for over 25 years, which is almost at 100 per cent completion stage or is it the modern railway from Lagos to Kano to Katsina and Maradi, in the Niger Republic,” Ganduje asked rhetorically?
On a lighter note, the governor told his audience that the APC flagbearer is a son of the soil in Kano and his name is Ashiru Bala Tanimu.
