The Lagos State Coordinator of Tinubu Support Organisation, (TSO), Mr. Akin Ibesanmi has called on Nigerians to work towards the emergence of Senator Bola Tinubu as the next president of Nigeria saying the former Lagos State Governor has the capability and capacity to rule Nigeria successfully.
Speaking with THEWILL at the weekend, Ibesanmi said the emergence of Tinubu as the presidential candidate of APC is a welcome development and prayers most answered by the Almighty God “because it has always been our wish and our prayers for him to emerge”.
“Now that he has emerged as the APC Presidential Candidate, Nigerians should be very hopeful because this is a man that has the capacity and capability, if he has an opportunity once again when he becomes the president God willing, Nigeria will have a new lease of life”, he said .
On Tinubu’s chances of winning the presidential election next year, Ibesanmi said “Looking at who and who are competing with him, he is sure of getting victory. There are three or four major parties in Nigeria today. And if you put the candidates side by side and you look at their pedigree, where they are coming from, you look at what they have done before; one should be able to say with some degree of certainty that Asiwaju will come victorious.
“This is a man who has governed before and when he governed, the footprint he left is what has actually transformed Lagos state and there is no state in the country today that is not looking up to Lagos State and we know he will transform the country”.
On the issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket, Ibesanmi said Nigerians should look beyond where we are now and that there is the need to separate politics from religion.
“We are talking on whoever must go to Aso Rock must be somebody who has the capacity to turn things around in Nigeria. Let us leave the issue of Christianity to the Pope, let us leave the issue of Muslims to the imams. There is a clear difference between religion and governance. There is no issue, there is no problem at all, Asiwaju is a trusted and tested person. As for Shettima, we all know what he had done in Borno state when he was governor”, Ibesanmi said.
On the preparation for the campaign, Ibesanmi said the Tinubu Support Organization, (TSO) is ready to mobilize for Tinubu’s presidential ambition saying, “What we plan to do is to have TSO in 774 local government areas of the country and bring campaign closer to the people.
“We are not leaving the campaign to the Presidential Campaign Council, but as a support group, we will be in all the local governments trickled down to the wards and polling units. We are fully on ground and we are prepared for the task ahead”, he said.
Ibesanmi counseled Nigerians to see the coming election as another opportunity to choose rightly, saying “I am appealing to everybody, all APC members to go out and canvass for votes”.
On Sanwo –Olu’s second term ambition, Ibesanmi said the Lagos State Governor’s performance will give him a second term.
“Despite the challenges of COVID -19 and the endSARS protest, he has been able to perform. Not only perform but he has performed creditably well. I don’t call him a performing governor but an infrastructure development governor because he has been able to transform Lagos from what it used to be in term of infrastructural development and he is not yet stopping. So success is assured for him at the poll next year”, Ibesanmi said.
Ibesanmi urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to keep the tempo of good performance , saying recent off season elections have shown that INEC has put on a lot of improvement in the way election is being conducted in Nigeria.