Supporters of All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, under the auspices of Disciples of Jagaban (DOJ), have said it will take presidential candidates Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso 20 years of political tutelage under the APC flag bearer before they can win an election in the country.
This came as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) boasted it would stop APC from securing 25 per cent of votes in most states of the country.
According to its national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba, “the fact that Nigerians from all walks of life in Kano State, the political, commercial nerve centre of the North and national melting point, defied the rain in massive show of solidarity to the PDP and our presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, underscores their determination to break through all barriers and return the PDP to power in 2023.
“From all indications, under a credible, free, fair and transparent electoral process, the APC cannot secure the statutory 25 per cent of votes in most states across the country.”
In a statement in Kaduna, yesterday, the leader of DOJ, Comrade Abdulhakeem Adegoke Alawuje, said even if the three candidates form an alliance, they still would not defeat Tinubu in the 2023 election.He said: “Needless to say, Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso would require not less than two decades of political tutelage from the renowned political strategist, Asiwaju Tinubu, before they can face him in the general election.
“They should rather support Asiwaju, the man with requisite capacity and capabilities to be the next Nigerian president, in the overall interest of Nigeria.
“Most of the presidential aspirants do not have the requisite pedigree to rule the Nigeria of today. They must know that mere chronicling of our problems and comparing Nigeria with China, U.S. or India is not just enough, but rather the ability and capacity to deliver.
“We all know the story-telling strategy is a simple script designed for the dimwitted, who cannot understand past failures and relate them with the present.”
SIMILARLY, another group of Tinubu supporters, led by Bayo Adedosu, issued a statement in Abuja, saying Obi cannot withstand Tinubu.
Stressing that the Labour Party (LP) candidate lacks experience and a network of support base, like Tinubu, Adedosu frowned at comments credited to Obi suggesting supporters of the APC flag bearer will not make appreciable impact at the polls.
He said: “Obi is the journeyman boxer who, with no trainer, cut man or even an agent in his corner, finds himself abjectly begging the referee for mercy before the bell has even been rung.
“His one-man-show style of politics simply underscores the glaring absence of reputable friends, colleagues, associates or even subordinates ready to testify as to his perpetually unverified ‘achievements’.
“He runs around everywhere, seeking acceptance under false assertions, but no one believes in him enough to work with him. He falsely presents himself as a messiah, but didn’t Jesus have disciples who went around with him?
“Such is the empty grandstanding of Peter Obi, which his gullible followers applaud. Where are those willing and ready to vouch for him if he is all he claims to be?
“Having realised just how outmatched he truly is and seeing the calibre of seasoned professionals, respected politicians, captains of industry and statesmen who have made it their personal mission to rally support for Tinubu, Obi has resorted to what he knows best, complaining loudly and shamelessly to anybody who would listen. A lone man in the wilderness!
“If, however, Candidate Obi wants to hear more from his venerable opponent, in the hope that he too might learn something from Asiwaju’s sagacity, he needs only be patient. This election will be a marathon, not a sprint. The Jagaban is coming. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed is winning.”
MEANWHILE, PDP, in a statement signed by its national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said: “The current mass exodus from APC into the PDP, as being witnessed in most states, including President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state of Katsina, highpoints the consensus by Nigerians that the APC has irredeemably failed, and that the PDP remains the only vehicle to rescue and rebuild the country from misrule of the APC.”
The party added: “The takeover of President Buhari’s campaign office by the PDP in his home Katsina State, following the defection of critical APC stakeholders there, signals the surrender of the APC and its structure to the PDP in Buhari’s supposed strongholds.
“Nigerians have seen through the lies and falsehood of the incompetent, rudderless, insensitive, divisive, bloodthirsty and terrorism-enabling APC that has brought nothing but misery, economic hardship, hatred, unprecedented disunity and bloodletting to our nation in the last seven years.
“Nigerians have seen the APC in its true identity – a Special Purpose Vehicle; a pirate ship of inchoate sailors and strange bed fellows clobbered together for remote personal gains, not for governance and public good.”
