Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) secretary Dr. Wale Ahmed has said that Nigerians will vote for character at the presidential election.
He said if character and integrity are the yardsticks, President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC will be re-elected by Nigerians. Ahmed spoke with reporters in Lagos on the importance of the contest.
He said: “I expect it to be free and fair. I don’t expect any violence. Nigerians are not fools. Nigerians have made up their minds. They have seen what is going on in the country in the last three and half years under President Muhammadu Buhari. This election is about the character of the two frontline candidates and the parties involve, and the kind of leadership APC has, compared to the PDP; the very horrible history of the PDP, having ruled for 16 years and took our country backward, instead of making progress. They condoned corruption. There was infrastructural decay. That’s the hallmark of the PDP.
“President Buhari has been military Head of State Petroleum minister, Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) chairman, and held other positions. Nobody has ascribed any property and bank account somewhere to him, expect his modest abode in Kaduna and in his village in Daura. If he was corrupt, he would have had property all over the country.
“Many people have not had the type of opportunities he had in government and they have a lot being traced to them. Nigerians are not fools. They don’t want to go back to the years of the locust; the years of the PDP. In particular, Nigerians know they cannot hand this country over to someone who has allegations of corruption about him, not only in Nigeria, but also outside our shores.”
Ahed said Vice President Atiku Abubakar does not have god manifesto beyond his self-servong agenda.
He said: “During this campaign, he has make it clear that he is going there to enrich his friends. I was miffed and shocked to hear that openly from somebody who seeks to occupy the position of Commander-In-Chief. Also, during this campaign, he has said openly that he will grant amnesty to looters. That is also very surprising.
“What that connotes, more or less, is setting free people who have been corrupt. What example, what impression do you want to create? That somebody will still and expect someone to set him free? Those things, which he has not denied, and which he has not found plausible explanation for, are enough for Nigerians not to vote for him.
He added: “Nigerians are not fools because they know the difference between a selfless person who want to come and right the wrongs of the past. This he has been doing in the last three and half years and he is only seeking another term to consolidate. Things can still be better. Despite complaints in some quarters, he cannot be compared to his challenger in the other party.
“These are the reasons I believe we are just going to have an affirmation on the character and person of President Muhammadu Buhari, affirmation of the kind of leadership we have in the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, our national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and the example of Lagos, the eight years of Tinubu in Lagos and the template which others are building on and adapting; his leadership and mentorship.
“If you look at the example of Lagos which other states in the Federation are copying, it signposts what is expected from a party where Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a leader. It is about character. The captain of the ship matters. How many people are working together to steer the ship? When Obama became president, he made some appointments and he was challenged by people who said these were Washington people. They said: you campaign on the basis of change, what is the difference? His answer was: the difference is me. I made the difference because I control and direct the activities of my appointees. That tells you that it is the person and the character of the person that occupies the seat that matters.
Ahmed said “a disaster of a catastrophic proportion is the issue of a former president, who sought to extend his tenure through the back door, through the third term.”
He stressed: “I have read all the books written by Obasanjo; My Watch, the three volumes, before people started lifting the excerpts of what he said about Atiku. If somebody, sometimes in August said God will not forgive him, if he supports Atiku to be president, and because of his hatred for President Muhamadu Buhari, is now telling the world we should make the same Atiku president, it beats my imagination. You said all sorts of things about somebody; you even tried to set up the Third Force, which collapsed.
“ For him to be finding excuses and telling Nigerians to vote for Atiku, when he has not told us that the person of Atiku is better than the person of Buhari, it means that his reasons are not necessarily altruistic. I used to give him a lot of respect for patriotism. But, on this, it does not appear that he is thinking about Nigeria. It is person.
“Atiku does not have any history of performance. As vice president, what we all remember him for was privatisation. The sale of national assets was skewed to the advantage of certain people. Look at what Gen. Akinrinade published in the newspaper. It is food for thought. With the kind of candidate the PDP has, Nigerians should vote for Buhari.
On the Lagos governorship poll, Ahmed said: “Asiwaju laid the foundation. I am a proud to say I was part of that government. I was a member of the House of Assembly from 1999 to 2003. That template is what we have been using to govern Lagos State. In Lagos, look at the two frontline candidates. The APC candidate, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu is a seasoned administrator, with a very good experience in government. He was Special Adviser under Asiwaju Tinubu and commissioner. So, he has government experience.
“Jimi Agbaje of the PDP is campaigning alone. His party is not with him. He is a perennial, perpetual candidate. He contested in 2007, 2011 and 2015. He is out in 2015. We cannot see his performance in any government. You can use Lagos State House to study Governance 101. It requires experience.”