The All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, has said with his emergence as the ruling party flagbearer for the 2023 presidential election, the country’s “greatness begins now”.
The former Lagos State governor stated this on Wednesday while delivering his acceptance speech after winning the APC presidential primary at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
The PUNCH reports that Tinubu scored 1,271 votes to defeat his closest contenders, Rotimi Amaechi and Yemi Osinbajo.
Amaechi obtained 316 votes while Osinbajo polled 235.
He contested against thirteen other aspirants – Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Mr Ahmed Rufai, Senator Rochas Okorocha, Mr Jack Rich, Governor Ben Ayade, Governor David Umahi, Senator Ahmed Yarima, Dr Ahmed Lawan, Osinbajo, Amaechi, Governor Yahaya Bello and Mr Ogbonnaya Onu.
Nine aspirants had earlier stepped down, eight of whom asked their supporters to vote for Tinubu, while one asked his supporters to vote for Osinbajo.
Those who stepped down before voting began are Governor Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa, Robert Boroffice, Ken Nnamani, Ibikunle Amosun, Dimeji Bankole, Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi and Godswill Akpabio.
They asked their supporters to vote for Tinubu, just as the only female aspirant, Mrs Uju Ken-Ohanenye, followed suit.
But speaking after his victory, Tinubu said he had waited for the right moment to actualise his dream and serve the country in his best capacity, saying that with his emergence, the nation will begin to live to its potential.
“The journey has started a long time and now we are here. The country’s greatness begins now,” Tinubu said, promising to deploy his management skill and capacity to bring the country back on track.
The PUNCH reports that the former governor of Lagos had said becoming Nigeria’s president is his lifelong ambition.
He said this on January 10, 2022, after a closed-door meeting with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the State House, Abuja, after informing the President of his ambition to succeed him in 2023.
When asked how the President responded to his declaration, Tinubu said, “He is a democrat. He didn’t ask me to stop, he didn’t ask me not to attempt and pursue my ambition. It is a lifelong ambition. You are running a democratic dispensation and you must adopt the principles and values and virtues of democracy.”
Addressing other aspirants, Tinubu said, “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.”
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