Ugar Ukandi Odey, Jos
Leaders and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on the platform of the North Central APC Forum, has called on the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to review his political calculations and understanding of the Dynamics of the country if he is to win the 2023 presidential election.
Speaking on behalf of the Forum in Jos, its Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, said Tinubu is being wrongly advised by some few people around him, and that he doesn’t appear to think much of, or understand the North.
He said Tinubu is still mistaking the whole Nigeria with Lagos State and parts of the Southwest where he has much influence.
Zazzaga said what Tinubu does not understand is that the North particularly believes in anyone who believes in the region and the nation at large, and when they make up their mind to support a candidate in an election, they do so wholeheartedly.
“From the way Tinubu is going, he is yet to fully understand the entire nation, especially the North, and he is still taking advice from a few persons rather than expanding his national network and knowledge of the nation”, Zazzaga noted.
He also observed that “that is why the likes of former President Olusegun Obasanjo is still seen as very intelligent when it comes to understanding all parts of the country”,pointing out that “if Tinubu is mistaking the entire nation for Lagos State or the Southwest, then he could be in for a surprise come 2023”, explaining further that “Nigeria is bigger than that, and with the current challenges the nation is faced with, he needs to think outside the Lagos or Southwest region to show that he has a national solution to the nation’s problems”.
He said “for Tinubu to be campaigning with his achievements in Lagos as a governor cannot fit in at this moment because he is only talking about a state and not the nation at large”, and accordingly urges him to expand his scope and spread for national acceptability.
Zazzaga also noted that “there are things that some of the leaders around him need to tell him. Those of us who are dealing with the grassroots, particularly in the North, hear lots of things and always try to call him out to adjust, but he has not been responding. It may therefore be difficult to convince many people in the North to trust him and vote for him”.
Zazzaga recalled that “this year we have held press conferences calling on Tinubu to appologize to Nigerians over his comments years back that he does believe in one Nigeria but to no avail. Again we have tried to caution him from some kind of comments such as he is ready to fight dirty with anyone in his quest to become the President of the country in 2023, and saying this time is his turn for him rule, all to no avail”.
He said Tinubu, obviously, is yet to understand that all these unnecessary comments have registered in peoples minds, and much needs to be done to convince them otherwise.
He reiterated that they would work for the success of the party come 2023, noting however that they will need to address some issues so that canvassing votes for the party will also be made easy.
