A member of the Legal Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Olusola Oke SAN, has assured that the party’s candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will trounce his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the North.
He said that a lot of factors were in favour of Tinubu winning in the North.
“The logical deduction is that anybody in the APC today who is a leader will want the political party to remain.
“They are not satisfied with this term; they want to take another step. Even when they cannot occupy the position, they want to be known as kingmakers.
“A number of them came from the PDP and they have regarded the opposition party as the Egypt they are not willing to return to.
“Following from that logic, you will know that ethnic-seeking will take the back seat. In any event, anybody that has grown up to be governor in this country will become a nationalist.
“What is of paramount importance is that who among these candidates can deliver, sustain the ideology of our party and build on the legacy of this government?
“Atiku will come and be looking for bearing. But Tinubu already has a bearing. If you look at his policy document, you will know that this is not a man who is coming to ask questions after the first day. He is not the ‘How do you do this one? Come and explain to me’ type of leader.
“He is a man that has been groomed for eight years under the tutelage of Buhari. He has seen the bad, the ugly and the good side of things,” Oke told The Punch.
Oke added that Atiku exposed himself as a “bigot” in the course of his address before Arewa leaders in October.
This, he said, was another factor that would work against the former Vice President in the 2023 presidential election.
Asked if Nigerians should be jettisoning ethnic and religious considerations for the election, Oke said, “I agree.
“But who do you think is playing the ethnic card between Tinubu and Atiku? Isn’t it obvious?
“Atiku further exposed himself as a bigot when he went to address Arewa leaders in the North. 9Rather than address issues, he was busy saying ‘Don’t vote Yoruba or Igbo candidate.’ That takes away everything from him as a nationalist.
“This election will be determined by the strength of your party and who populate it. The APC is stronger in the North and we are going to expect such strength in the votes.
“So if anybody is deluding himself because you are from there, it will be a shocker when the results are read. Why don’t you belong to the party of Buhari as a Northerner if you believe that ethnicity is a factor?
“Why did you go to the opposition party to oppose Buhari? And now, you want him to reason that you are a Northerner when you actually wanted him to fail in the last election.
“We gave him support from the South and everywhere to win. It is now that you suddenly remember that you are a Northerner. Is Buhari not a Northerner?
“Here comes the national question. We agreed after a long struggle that Nigeria must be ruled by fairness, justice and equity. And that power must rotate between the South and the North. Somebody is working against that principle was taken to bring stability to Nigeria. You want to take advantage of your ethnic colouration.
“Nigeria belongs to everybody. Buhari will not reason like that. He has grown about it. All our leaders in APC will not be myopic. They are going to do that which will entrench unity in Nigeria.
“The PDP, unlike the APC, is a party that represents disunity. Who could believe that Atiku would address Arewa leaders and would voice out that kind of abomination from his mouth. Do we have two Nigeria(s)? I can assure you once again that the APC will show its strength in the North and win.”