-Islamic body endorses Tinubu for President
-Nigerians won’t accept your lies, APC tells PDP

State governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) pledged yesterday to deliver the party’s flag bearer in the February 25,2023 election , Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s next president.

Tinubu’s victory, according to the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF),will be its special birthday gift to Buhari who turned 80 yesterday.

He added: “Leaders and members of our party, All Progressives Congress (APC) are grateful to have your inspiring leadership role. Accordingly, our party has continued to evolve and both management of party administration and processes of candidates’ emergence are improving, which is responsible for the higher electoral advantages we have compared to other parties in the country. This accounts for the massive support of Nigerians for all our candidates for the 2023 elections at all levels.

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“As we wish you a happy birthday and say a big thank you for your selfless service to our dear country, we reaffirm our commitment to work for the electoral victory of all our candidates for the 2023 elections.

”We are working hard with abiding faith and belief to ensure that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, our Presidential Candidate emerges victorious and succeeds you.

“Your patriotically inspiring leadership remains the source of our massive support across every part of Nigeria.”

The Jam’iyatul Ansarul Deeni Attijjaniya,during its 5th  annual national world Maulud of the Prophet Muhammad  held in Minna,Niger State,threw its weight behind Tinubu ahead of  the February presidential election.

Sheikh Halifa Mohammed  led other sheikhs of the influential  sect in making the endorsement. They said Tinubu would be able to improve the economic development of Nigeria and improve the social status of Nigerians.

Halifa Mohammed is the grandson of the founder of the  group, Shehu Ibrahim Inyass.

Tinubu appreciated the endorsement of the Jam’iyatul Ansarul Deeni Attijjaniya and assured the leaders and members that he would not disappoint them if  he became president.

The Emir of Minna, Dr Farouk Bahago prayed for the successful conduct of the 2023 general elections as he urged the people to shun violence and electoral misconduct.

Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello who spoke in the same vein urged politicians to call their supporters to order and discourage them from engaging in electoral violence.

He noted that every transition period comes with a lot of difficulties, challenges, backbiting and rumor mongering, stressing that the 2023 elections would  be peaceful if everyone in the electoral process played his role well.

Special prayers were said for Tinubu and the successful conduct of the 2023 elections by the Imams during the Maulud.

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The event  which took place  at the Polo ground ,Minna ,had in attendance Tinubu, Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, Kano State Governor  Abdullahi Umar Ganduje,  Minister of State for  Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, the Senator representing Niger East Senatorial District, Alhaji  Sani Musa, the Emir of Minna, Dr Farouk Bahago, former Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Oladimeji Bankole, Niger APC governorship candidate, Honorable Umar Bago and others.

Tinubu had arrived in Minna on Friday evening ahead of the ceremony.

Nigerians won’t accept your lies, APC tells PDP

The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the APC said yesterday that  attempts by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar to de-market the achievements of the governing party would  not work, as Nigerians won’t give in to their lies.

The council also said that all surreptitious moves by the opposition to rewrite what it called an  ugly past that plundered the country into the abyss of suffering would  hit the rocks.

The Director, Media and Publicity of the campaign council, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement  in  Abuja said   recent slanderous utterances by PDP leaders and its presidential candidate against the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari were not only insulting but an abuse of the collective intelligence of Nigerians.

His words:”Having consistently shown a lack of capacity for introspection, PDP leaders have been going about the country slandering the All Progressives Congress-led government of President Muhammadu Buhari, believing that as Nigerians we have forgotten their atrocious era and that we are unappreciative ignoramuses.

“Notably Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the party that once contemplated changing its brand name because of its atrocious record, has been emboldened by our assumed forgetfulness as a nation, mounting podiums and trying to deodorise and beautify the party’s ugly era.”

It faulted   Atiku blaming the APC for the emergence of Boko Haram, and argued  that the insurgents emerged in 2009 under the  watch of the PDP.

”He (Atiku) blamed Buhari over the economic challenges, forgetting that he opportunistically joined the coalition that toppled the clueless PDP government of President Jonathan when the economy was nose-diving,” he said.

“Atiku has now been joined by Abubakar Saraki, the failed Senate President who in his latest comment in Ilorin,  urged Nigerians to ‘go back to the PDP at both the state and the national levels’. In the famous words of Dino Melaye, we say ‘PDP: God forbid’ “.

The APC PCC argued that in a sane society, PDP should not be canvassing for votes to be returned to office, when during their 16 years in power, they laid the foundation for the challenges we face today.

”Let us not forget what the party of looters did to our treasury, depleting foreign reserves to $28 billion by May 2015, even though a record N75 trillion flowed into the treasury from oil sales alone, with almost nothing to show.

“Let us not forget that the party of looters nurtured the conditions that led to the emergence of Boko Haram on our soil and it was so clueless about how to deal with the menace as our cities and people were bombed and maimed by Boko Haram terrorists.

”Let us not forget that for six years, the PDP allowed the insurgents to declare a Caliphate on our soil, controlling 17 local governments in Borno State and four in Adamawa, making Atiku unable to go to Jada, his hometown.

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”Let us not forget that the PDP left our infrastructure decrepit, highways impassable after allotted money to contractors had been shared by party stalwarts.

”Let us not forget that this party now posing as recovery agents had already grounded our country and made our economy comatose before Buhari took over on 29 May 2015.

”Let us not forget that the two poorest states in our country, Sokoto and Bayelsa are states being governed by the PDP in the last 8 years.”

However, the APC-PCC noted that in the past seven and a half years, the Buhari-led administration has been trying to clear the mess left by the PDP predecessors.

The council said, “Despite the challenges faced on the economic front, among which is dwindling revenue exacerbated by oil theft, the government has been able to showcase many game-changing projects.

”One of them, which temporarily opened on 15 December, is the Second Niger Bridge. The PDP promised the Southeast states and Ifeanyi Okowa’s Delta State that it would do the bridge. For 16 years, the party made one empty promise after another. Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 decided to take on the project. He awarded it all over again and in record time the 1.6 kilometres long bridge is ready. And it comes with other ancillary infrastructure including a 10.3 km  highway, a bypass to Owerri and a toll station at Obosi.”

The campaign council   promised Nigerians that its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, would  build on Buhari’s legacy, improve the economy and the security situation, declaring to PDP that,  “Nigerians have rejected you (PDP) and our people will not buy your lies again!”