I wish to announce my withdrawal in support of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to support Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the forthcoming presidential election. My reasons are as follow:
1. Competence: I have actually taking my time to ponder over who is more competent, I have weighed their leadership capabilities and from my findings Tinubu is more visionary, and good at managing resources to create jobs and a robust economy as we have seen in Lagos State where he governed from 1999 to 2007.
He has had vast experience both as a legislator when he was a Senator from Lagos west constituency in the short-lived third republic in 1992, and as executive governor of Lagos state for eight years.
2. National Unity: I am not really an advocate of power rotation but rather an advocate of good governance regardless of region, ethnic nationality or the religion of an aspirant. But In the interest of fairness and equity and in the interest of a peaceful and united Nigeria I wish to switch my support from Atiku to Asiwaju. The unity of Nigeria is more pivotal than my own self interest, both Atiku and Tinubu are no doubt detribalized leaders, but I see a more united Nigeria under Asiwaju.
And I will equally like to call on my fellow country men and women and every stake holder in all the parties to rotate power to the South East after Asiwaju, and support the Igbos to rule for equity and fairness sake. It is high time our fellow countrymen in the IPOB fighting against the Nigerian state to drop their arms and embrace peace in the good interest of the South East and the nation at large.
3. Security: There was so much insecurity and criminality in pre Tinubu Lagos, such as hoodlums (agberos) and as well housing problem, but before he left as a governor in 2007 most of those ’agberos’ and under-bridge hoodlums dropped their arms and are either back to school or embraced handworks or craftsmanship because Tinubu carried them along. If a peaceful and crime free Lagos State is achievable under Asiwaju, it is also achievable in Nigeria under the same guy.
4. Leadership and mentorship: Asiwaju is one man who so much believes in nurturing leaders and mentoring young men and women to be great in their endeavors. He is the most generous leader I have seen in regards to helping others grow and mentorship. Though some of the people he has raised ended up stabbing him in the back as we have seen of the ingrate Judas who Tinubu raised from commissionership to the rank of the second citizen. Mentorship is just virtue you cannot take away from Mr. Asiwaju.
It is Tinubu’s mentorship that has bred great leaders as Fashola, Ambode, Fayemi, Amosun, Gbajabiamila, Aregbeshola, and many more. Which makes Tinubu more influential than even former president Obasanjo in the South West. Atiku as well is good at mentorship in his own way but in our politics of today Nigeria Tinubu has no match.
5. Both Tinubu and Atiku are economically endowed and are not really coming to embezzle as some of us assume. Both men want to make history as Nigeria’s president and write their names in gold.
6. Asiwaju contributed more than any individual political figure in unseating the PDP’s 16 years of rule to usher in President Buhari and a new party. Though many of us are not really satisfied with the change that we seek, but I want assure you that President Buhari and Tinubu are two different brains and Nigeria shall triumph under Tinubu more than Buhari even though he too has done his best in some aspects.
7. The June 12 struggle: I have so much respect and admiration for those that were part of the June 12 struggle. For some of us that are too young to know what this means; on 12th of June in 1993 it came to the knowledge of Nigerians that Moshood Abiola won a presidential election that has been regarded as the most free and fair in Nigeria’s history but was annulled by the then military regime of General Babangida. After which a group of concerned citizens formed a group called the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) which Tinubu was a founding member. And this group sole objective was to mobilize support for the restoration of Democracy and recognition of Moshood Abiola as the winner of June 12 1993 election. And since the return of Democracy in 1999, Tinubu’s political activities has been in opposition until 2015 when his party finally clinched power.
With this, I’m urging every well meaning Nigerian to support Mr. Asiwaju in his quest to remodel a Nigeria that will work for all of us.
