The national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former military President Ibrahim Babangida are shadows that should be confined in retirement.
Tinubu, who was asked by the State House Correspondents today, Tuesday, to react to the recent letters the two former leaders wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari asking him not to contest the 2019 election for a second-term said: “I don’t address those shadows.
“We should let our former presidents join retirees’ club and take pensions but they can participate in our politics if they are interested. It is a free world but this freedom is not served a la carte but they should allow us to move our country forward. It is a challenge to every Nigerian.”
Asiwaju Tinubu made it clear that APC will perform better in the 2019 elections than it did in 2015, predicting that the elections will be free, fair and peaceful
“I belong to this party (APC). My commitment is to this party. We have a better chance and we are strongly determined to prosecute election in a most transparent and democratic manner and we will win.”
The APC Chieftain said that he felt greatly honoured that President Buhari named him to head reconciliation body in the APC, adding with the mutual confidence that the president has reposed in him, he had taken it as a very strong political challenge.
“Democracy is about conflict resolution process. You can’t do it without resolving conflicts. We can’t build it without understanding the conflicts and sources where we are coming from. But we want to leave the country with a legacy. It’s not about Mr. President. That is what he’s telling the country.
“It’s about our country and no other choice to democratic tenets than through political party platforms. He’s one of those rare has been around the country, around Africa who had experienced both worlds: he fought a battle to save Nigeria and came to politics to save Nigeria. “Very rare people have such an opportunity in their life time and that’s what we talk about legacy, and where we have all the challenges, we will do what we should do. I’m enjoying the challenges so far.
“We have started in earnest. He (Buhari) has given me free hand to put coercion, confidence and trust in the party.” [myad]
