Tobias Sylvester
The National leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu has defeated 13 presidential aspirants to emerge winner of the party’s presidential primary held in Abuja.
Tinubu APC Presidential Primary
The APC chieftain won the election by a landslide after beating the likes of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.
Tinubu polled a total of 1,271 votes – more than four times the votes scored by his closet rival, Amaechi who had 316 votes.
Osinbajo, Lawan, and Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State came behind the duo with 235, 152, and 47 votes respectively.
More than 2,300 delegates voted in the contest that produced Tinubu as the presidential flagbearer of the ruling party.
Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, who was the returning officer of the convention, declared Tinubu as the winner of the APC presidential primary election held in Eagle Square, Abuja.
He said, “This is to certify that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, having scored the highest number of votes cast, is hereby declared the winner.
“In line with the provisions of the constitution of our great party and by the power conferred on me as the Returning Officer of this special convention, I, Atiku Bagudu, do hereby declare Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the presidential candidate of our party in the 2023 presidential election.”
Eight aspirants who stepped down for Tinubu were Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohnenye, Dr Felix Nicholas, former Gov. Godswill Akpabio, former Gov. Ibikunle Amosun, former Speaker Dimeji Bankole, Sen. Ajayi Boroffice, Gov. Muhammad Badaru, Sen. Ken Nnamani and Gov. Kayode Fayemi.
Tinubu’s Acceptance Speech
In his acceptance speech, Tinubu who was highly elated said “today is another historic day and it is thanks to God almighty that you are living healthy to witness it, to be part of it, to be your calling, to be your arrangement.
“We all, not only as a party, it has gone beyond partisan idea now. It is yours as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. You put it together and you have even gracious and humble from the beginning. We are very grateful to you.
“The vice president, a very good and supportive pillar, a good assistant to the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo GCON, we than you for this steady and good support to our president.
“To you, the legislature, the Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan, I would have been a little upset because you competed with me but that is over now since you can easily leak your wounds. It doesn’t take away from thanking you from the past cooperation and cool-headedness to build our country. You have helped in steering the ship of the nation and with your colleagues in the Senate, history is written and will be kind to you.
“And to my brother, Hakeem Gbajabiamila, the sparkling speaker, I credit you. The Gbajabiamilas of Lagos have been part of the history of this country and you will not be forgotten.
“To the chairman of our party, senator Abdullahi Adamu, it appeared some weeks back that some newspapers and many people were ready to write the obituary of this party. We put together and pulled ourselves as a cat with nine lives. We thatched the roof, steady the pillars and became master builders. You came on and worked hard with the collaboration of others and here we are. Shame on those who were already building the coffin of APC. Shame on them.
“Our party is alive. They won’t be able to do the convention but here we are are, the first convention to chose the. See executives, the governors pulled themselves together, we did break our backs and we are here, very happy and confident and courageous to tell you that the cat that lies down quietly is not a pretension of death but breeding of its energy to devour its enemies. Now we are here, we will roar. We will do it. We will tell Poverty Development Party. They call themselves PDP, 16 years of failures of wastefulness, we day step aside, be buried and leave the way way for us. We will repair our country.
“We are Progressives, we are nation builders. We are not destroyers. We are confident that this nation is back in track”, he stated.
Tinubu also spoke about the growing wave of killings in the country, saying; “We are not the barbaric, blind human beings they think we are. They are setting us against in another. When you were born, you didn’t hear from the womb whether you would be a male or female, Christian or Muslim. You were born to your parents and adopted their religions and you continued.
“The Bible taught us to love your neighbour as you love yourself. It did not say kill your neighbour. It is in the two holy books. Goodness for goodness. Learn to accept mistakes, not from gunshots or the destruction of lives and property because the life you take you cannot bring back, the hate you spill cannot cure your hunger. We must build a new society and learn to think a new way of life”.
He commended all his fellow aspirants for the stiff and strong opposition they offered which he said made the party better and himself humble.
Tinubu particularly lauded all the seven aspirants who stepped down for him saying it was a very difficult decision that they made.
“The competition is now over. Those who did not support me, you have nothing to fear. I hold no grudges. Let us join hands to beat the PDP and beat back their retrogressive understanding of Nigeria. They had 16 years, they depleted our resources and left us with hunger. Let us dig their graves by defeating them in the next election because they are the agents of poverty, terror, violence and lying”, he stated.
Apologizing to President Muhammadu Buhari for keeping him waiting due to his long acceptance speech, Tinubu said; “I didn’t expect to win, but I won and I must be intoxicated by the victory. What can I do?”
President Buhari later presented to Asiwaju Tinubu the flag of the party while the Imo state Governor, Hope Uzodinma moved a motion for the indefinite adjournment of the convention. It was seconded by the Zamfara state Governor, Bello Matawalle.
KanyiDaily recalls that before the election, Bola Tinubu had described himself as the most experienced and formidable among the 23 aspirants, recalling his achievements as Lagos governor where he turned the state into the fifth largest economy in Africa.
