A massive crowd descended on the El-Kanemi Stadium, Maiduguri yesterday to solidarise with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in what observers described as a pointer to the huge endorsement coming from the state in Saturday’s elections.
Residents also described the turnout as a measure of the home support for Tinubu’s running mate Senator Kashim Shettima, the immediate past governor of the state.
The Maiduguri event is the last before APC’s final rally in Lagos on Tuesday.
The Maiduguri carnival-like rally of the APC spilled across many major roads and streets of the city with people hailing the APC delegation which also included the party’s national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, Governors Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa) and Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger) and two other former governors of the state, Maina Ma’aji Lawal and Ali Modu-Sheriff.
Addressing the rally, Tinubu pledged to re-energise oil exploration in the Lake Chad Basin and recharge the drying lake with a view to generating jobs and boosting agricultural production in the area.
Attention, according to him, would also be focused on security.
“Nigeria will see peace and stability. The Borno people and their neighbours will witness prosperity and happiness,” he said.
He empathised with the generality of Nigerians over the current situation in the country and assured them that succor was on the way.
He paid tribute to Shettima who he said performed well as governor of the state, and to the incumbent Governor BabaGana Zulum, who, in his words, “is a representation of achievement.”
Shettima and his predecessors Ali Modu-Sheriff and Ma’aji Lawal said the APC was sure of victory in the state.
Zulum told the people to turn out on Saturday even more than they did yesterday to vote for the party’s candidates.
The APC leaders had earlier paid a courtesy visit on the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garba, during which Governor Zulum thanked Tinubu for picking a son of the state as running mate.
“You have done all for us and now it is for us to deliver APC in Borno State,” he said.
Zulum said Tinubu was more than a political ally for the state as he had shown concerns for the difficult times the state went through during the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency more than anyone else.
He said: “During our trying times, he has always been with us. He has visited us between seven and eight times in the last eleven years. There is nobody else that has done anything like that for us.”
Also at the rally were Minister of State for Agriculture, Mustapha Baba Shehuri, members of the National Assembly, former chiefs of army staff, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd) and Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (rtd), among other members of the party.
TINUBU SUPPORT GROUPS TASK NIGERIANS ON CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM TO AVOID TENSIONS
Political Support Groups for APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has urged Nigerians to engage in constructive criticism to avoid unnecessary tensions as the general elections drew near.
The groups, Think Tinubu Movement and Renewed Hope Ambassadors of Nigeria, made the call at a stakeholders engagement and the launch of a book titled: “The Recount – (An Antidote To Unfair Criticism) – Asiwaju Bola Tinubu” .
The groups advised Nigerians and political stakeholders to promote healthy rivalry for the benefit of all.
They said the menace of negative criticisms in the political sphere across the country should be nipped in the bud..
According to them, the APC presidential candidate had the ability to be a bridge and bridge the gap bedeviling the country.
