The President-elect, Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, offered insight into how his administration will pilot the affairs of the nation.
He said he was ready to listen and take a difficult route in ensuring Nigerians see better days and the country of their dreams.
He stated this at the APC Presidential Campaign Council headquarters in Abuja shortly after he was declared the winner of the presidential poll.
The Journey:
Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been declared winner of last Saturday’s presidential election.
In an ironic political turn of event in which the kingmaker has suddenly become the king himself, Tinubu who is considered as the kingmaker behind the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) in 2015 is now the president-elect of Nigeria.
It is mission accomplished for the former Lagos governor who said it was his turn to lead Nigeria, but the road to Aso Rock has not been smooth sailing; it is a difficult journey, such that Tinubu himself would readily attest that he did not relax and could not enjoy all through.
Known as the son of late Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, the Iyaloja of Lagos, Tinubu had a commendable professional life with a number of international concerns as an Auditor before joining politics in 1992, on the platform of the Social Democratic Party led by late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. He was elected to the Nigerian Senate, to represent the Lagos West constituency.
Military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida’s (IBB) unending transition, witnessed a dribbling that saw the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election that was to produce M.K.O. Abiola.
This development brought Tinubu into the limelight as he became a major arrowhead of the struggle to realise MKO’s mandate. With MKO in jail, he fled into exile in 1994, becoming a leader cum financier of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), against General Sanni Abacha (GSA). GSA had pushed IBB aside, later dismissing after 84 days in office, the interim government of Ernest Shonekan that Babangida had put in place. Tinubu only returned to Nigeria in 1998 after the death of GSA. General Abdulsalami A. Abubakar (AAA) who took over wanted to quickly leave office and Tinubu was one of the beneficiaries of the General’s call for Nigerians to canvass for offices.
In the run-up to the 1999 elections, Bola Tinubu was a protégé of Alliance for Democracy (AD) leaders Abraham Adesanya and Ayo Adebanjo. He won the AD primaries for the Lagos State gubernatorial elections, and in January 1999, stood for the position of Executive Governor of Lagos State on the AD ticket and won.
On October 7, 1999, the late human rights lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) filed a request at the Federal High Court, Lagos, to compel an investigation of criminal allegations which he made against BAT. This process was stalled in court given a serving governor’s immunity. Fawehinmi’s death ended all issues.
Tinubu, alongside a new deputy, Femi Pedro, won re-election to office as governor in April 2003. He survived President Obasanjo’s attempt to sweep all the Southwestern States into his ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). How he outsmarted President Obasanjo (OBJ) is a story for another day. He was involved in a struggle with the Federal government over Lagos State’s right to create new Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to meet its large population’s needs. The controversy led to the federal government seizing funds meant for local councils in the state in spite of the decision of the Supreme Court against Obasanjo, the President.
His tenure as Lagos State Governor ended on 29 May 2007. There are suggestions that he was wealthy before coming into politics. But many dubbed him the owner of Lagos. A 2015 documentary alleged BAT’s stranglehold on the political and financial jugular of Lagos. Tinubu sued the producers, AIT, for N150 billion for libel, and the documentary was taken off the air on March 6, 2015 as AIT allegedly made restitution and apologized. Similar controversies over the ownership of Alpha-Beta, a consulting entity that massively assisted in raising the internally generated revenue of Lagos State has been settled with Dapo Apara, a chartered accountant and former company M.D.
Tinubu had a history of being too controlling over his successors. For example, in December 2009, there were reports that serving Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola and Tinubu had a fight over Fashola’s re-election against 2011.
A similar imbroglio happened in 2015 over Fashola’s replacement. Tinubu allegedly decided on Akinwunmi Ambode, who was in turn denied a second-term and incumbent Babajide Sanwo-Olu was put in place.
Many people suggested that PMB did not want Tinubu as his successor in spite of the role the former Lagos governor played in ensuring that he became President of Nigeria in 2015. In June 2021, for instance, in an interview, PMB stated that: “You cannot sit there in Lagos… and decide the fate of APC on zoning.” This was in reaction to a suggestion that the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate had been zoned to the South against the 2023 elections.
This message was read as meant for Tinubu, who was the frontrunner for his party’s nomination. The body language of PMB, as he foisted a chairman on the party who in turn tried to foist Ahmed Lawan as the APC presidential candidate gave the impression that all was sealed against Tinubu. Against all odds, with the support of nine APC Governors from Northern Nigeria, the use of his war-chest, etc., Tinubu emerged as APC’s presidential candidate.
The ill-fated currency redesign policy was clearly read as geared at preventing Tinubu’s success, given the untold hardship that was added to the lackluster performance by the APC government during PMB’s eight years in office. However, this policy backfired in the north pushing people to look forward to BAT’s election to change the situation.
Little wonder that as Tinubu took a careful position of embracing PMB’s failure in office but skillfully suggesting that he is different, PMB was pushed into a corner of lack of trust on his support for his party’s presidential candidate, hence he had to show his ballot paper to the world to prove that he voted in favour of his party.
Tinubu faces a plethora of challenges. There is the controversy on whether Nigeria needs restructuring to avoid secession. The low international rating of Nigeria and worsening exchange rate, petrol “subsidy” removal, inflation, excruciating debt overhang, the youth bulge, accompanied by high unemployment etc., are major challenges. More importantly is the general insecurity that PMB slightly reduced by pushing Boko Haram out of territories it once held but with mayhem continuing in many parts of Nigeria.
APC Candidate Wins 25% In 30 States, Scores 8.8m Votes
Meanwhile, the APC presidential candidate was in the early hours of today declared winner of Last Saturday’s presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to the commission, Tinubu scored 8,794,729 and got the required 25 percent in 30 states to defeat his major opponents, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who came second with 6,984,520 votes and followed by Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP) who scored 6,101,533 votes.
Section 134 of the 1999 constitution stipulates that a presidential candidate can only be announced as the winner if he or she has the majority of votes cast at the election; and has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the FCT.
Sub-section 3 of the said section provides that “in default of a candidate duly elected in accordance with subsection (2) of this section there shall be a second election”.
Meawhile, senior lawyers have continued to argue whether otherwise, a presidential candidate is required to score 25% in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Mahama, Jonathan, Others Call For Calm As PDP, LP Kick
Meanwhile, former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan; head of the West African Elders Forum (WAEF) Mission to Nigeria’s 2023 general polls and former President of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, as well as other members of the forum have called for calm over Saturday’s presidential poll.
They made their position following the call by the PDP, LP and the Africa Democratic Congress (ADC) for outright cancellation of the poll, saying it was irretrievably compromised.
Other members of the Mission include former Beninoise President, Boni Yayi, former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Vice President of The Gambia, Fatoumata Jallo Tambajang, former Burkinabe Prime Minister and President of the Economic Community of West African States, Kadre Ouedraogo and former Deputy Chairman of the African Union, Erastus Mwencha.
The Election Mission Forum led by the former President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, urged political parties, candidates and their supporters to remain calm and peaceful while awaiting the final outcome of the election.
In a statement signed by the convener, former President Jonathan, and the Head of WAEF Mission to Nigeria’s 2023 and former Ghanaian President Mahama, WAEF c stated that as former leaders who are committed to peace and stability in our sub-region, they have begun a round of consultations with some of the presidential candidates and other key stakeholders, taking to them the message of hope, understanding and peace.
WAEF said so far it has held meetings with some of the presidential candidates including NNPP’s Kwankwaso and PDP’s Atiku in Abuja.
“This afternoon we also held consultations with the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate Senator Bola Tinubu and the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, in an expanded meeting that included the Heads of Missions of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU), His Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma and His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, respectively, as well as the President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency Dr. Omar Alieu Touray.
“We have continued, in all of these meetings, to urge the candidates and their supporters to maintain peace and use all available legitimate means to sort out their concerns and grievances. We hope to sustain this Mission until the electoral processes are successfully concluded.
“We, therefore, urge everyone to be circumspect in their actions and responsibilities, during this moment in order not to jeopardize the collective stability and peace of the nation.”
Concede Defeat Like Jonathan In 2015, Tinubu Tells Atiku, Obi
But the president-elect, Tinubu, implored his PDP and LP counterparts, Atiku and Obi, to accept defeat by calling to congratulate him the way former President Goodluck Jonathan did to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
He said the call for cancellation of the presidential poll is an illegality and those calling for it, including former President Obasanjo, are not true adherents of democracy.
Tinubu asked supporters of Atiku and Obi to avoid heating the polity, insisting that they can borrow a leaf from the exemplary leadership of Jonathan in the spirit of sportsmanship.
The former Lagos governor spoke through the special adviser, Media and Strategic Communications, of the APC presidential campaign council, Dele Alake.
Speaking at a world press conference in Abuja, Alake said, “We call on Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, to emulate former President Goodluck Jonathan by conceding defeat. This election has already been won by our candidate, according to the results declared at the collation centres in the state.
Tinubu descended verbally on former President Obasanjo for also calling for the cancellation of last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections, saying his demand was premised on unsubstantiated claims, rumours and allegations of fraud by the opposition parties after observing that they have lost the election.
Expressing disappointment at the elder statesman statement, Tinubu said recalled that Obasanjo himself once admitted publicly in an interview that there is no perfect electoral system anywhere in the world.
Alake who also played the video of Obasanjo’s interview in which he admitted that elections cannot be 100 percent perfect said, “The APC-PCC wants to say emphatically that former President Obasanjo has no moral right to meddle in this election let alone calling for its cancellation because he is an interested party having publicly, on January 1 this year, endorsed the candidate of Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi.
Alake further alleged plans by the PDP and Labour Party to heighten tension in the country and create general state of fear through their sponsored surrogates who have continued to push false narratives about the general conduct of the election.
Read the full speech below.
“THE ERA OF RENEWED HOPE“
By The President-Elect
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
March 1, 2023
My fellow Nigerians,
I am profoundly humbled that you have elected me to serve as the 16th President of our beloved Republic. This is a shining moment in the life of any man and affirmation of our democratic existence. From my heart, I say thank you.
Whether you are Batified, Atikulated, Obidient, Kwankwasiyya, or have any other political affiliation, you voted for a better, more hopeful nation and I thank you for your participation and dedication to our democracy.
You decided to place your trust in the democratic vision of a Nigeria founded on shared prosperity and one nurtured by the ideals of unity, justice, peace and tolerance. Renewed hope has dawned in Nigeria.
We commend INEC for running a free and fair election. The lapses that did occur were relatively few in number and were immaterial to the final outcome. With each cycle of elections, we steadily perfect this process so vital to our democratic life.
Today, Nigeria stands tall as the giant of Africa. It shines even brighter as the continent’s biggest democracy.
I thank all who supported my campaign. From President Buhari who adeptly led my campaign as its chairman, to my Vice Presidential Candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima.
To the progressive governors of our party and this nation, to the party leadership, to our loyal party members. I owe you a debt of gratitude. To the entire campaign organisation, I thank you sincerely.
I thank my loving wife and dear family whose support was ceaseless and inspiring. Without you, this victory would not be possible.
I am grateful to Almighty God. By His mercy, I was born a son of Nigeria and through His sublime purpose, I find myself the victor of this election. May He grant me the wisdom and courage to lead the nation to the greatness He alone has destined for it.
Finally, I thank the Nigerian people for their abiding belief in our democracy. I shall be a fair leader to all Nigerians. I will be in tune with your aspirations, charge up your energies and harness your talents to deliver a nation that we can be proud of.
To my fellow candidates, former VP Atiku, former governor Kwankwaso, former governor Obi and all others, I extend the hand of friendship. This was a competitive, high-spirited campaign.
You have my utmost respect.
Political competition must now give way to political conciliation and inclusive governance.
During the election, you may have been my opponent but you were never my enemy. In my heart, you are my brothers.
Still, I know some candidates will be hard put to accept the election results. It is your right to seek legal recourse. What is neither right nor defensible is for anybody to resort to violence. Any challenge to the electoral outcome should be made in a court of law, and not in the streets.
I also ask my supporters to let peace reign and tensions fade. We ran a principled, peaceful and progressive campaign. The aftermath of our campaign must be as benign.
Yes, there are divisions amongst us that should not exist. Many people are uncertain, angry and hurt; I reach out to every one of you. Let the better aspects of our humanity step forward at this fateful moment. Let us begin to heal and bring calm to our nation.
Now, to you, the young people of this country, I hear you loud and clear. I understand your pains, your yearnings for good governance, a functional economy and a safe nation that protects you and your future.
I am aware that for many of you, Nigeria has become a place of abiding challenges, limiting your ability to see a bright future for yourselves.
Remodelling our precious national home requires the harmonious efforts of all of us, especially the youth. Working together, we shall move this nation as never before.
My running mate, Vice President-elect Shettima, and I understand the challenges ahead. More importantly, we also understand and deeply value the talent and innate goodness of you, the Nigerian people. We pledge to listen and to do the difficult things, the big deeds, that put us on the path of irreversible progress. Hold us firmly to account, but please give us a chance first.
Together, we shall build a brighter and more productive society for today, tomorrow and for years to come.
Today, you have given me the greatest honour you can bestow on one man.
In return, I will give you my utmost as your next President and Commander-in-chief. Peace, unity and prosperity shall be the cornerstones of the society we intend to build. When you gaze upon what we shall accomplish in the coming years, you shall speak with pride at being a Nigerian.
I thank you all.
God bless you all.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
