Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu has hailed all his fellow aspirants at the just concluded presidential primary election of the party for the stiff and strong opposition they offered which he said made the party better and himself humble.
This is even as the former Lagos governor lauded all the seven presidential aspirants who stepped down for him before the commencement of the exercise, saying it was a very difficult decision that they made.
Tinubu made these remarks on Wednesday in his acceptance/victory speech at the Eagle Square, Abuja, venue of the presidential primary election.
He polled 1,271 votes to defeat his closest rival, Rotimi Amaechi who scored 316 while Vice President Yemi Osinbajo came third with 235 votes, followed by Ahmad Lawan who got 152 votes.
Tinubu said: “The competition is now over. Those who did not support me, you have nothing to fear. I hold no grudges. Even the obstacles on my way, I predict them before those that will bring them will start to think about them. I plan for betrayal, I plan for backstabbing, I also plan for reunion, forgiveness long before they happen. I expect nothing, I expect anything, I expect everything.
“Let us join hands to beat the PDP and beat back their retrogressive understanding of Nigeria. They had 16 years, they depleted our resources and left us with hunger. Let us dig their graves by defeating them in the next election because they are the agents of poverty, terror, violence and lying.”
The APC national leader declared that the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cannot come back to power any time soon, with his emergence as the ruling party presidential flag bearer.
“Today is another historic day and it is thanks to God almighty that you are living healthy to witness it, to be part of it, to be your calling, to be your arrangement.
“We all, not only as a party, it has gone beyond partisan idea now. It is yours as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. You put it together and you have even gracious and humble from the beginning. We are very grateful to you.
“The vice president, a very good and supportive pillar, a good assistant to the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo GCON, we thank you for this steady and good support to our president.
“To you, the legislature, the Senate President, Senator Ahmad Lawan, I would have been a little upset because you competed with me but that is over now since you can easily leak your wounds. It doesn’t take away from thanking you for the past cooperation and cool-headedness to build our country. You have helped in steering the ship of the nation and with your colleagues in the Senate, history is written and will be kind to you.
“And to my brother, Hakeem Gbajabiamila, the sparkling speaker, I credit you. The Gbajabiamilas of Lagos has been part of the history of this country and you will not be forgotten.
“Our party is alive. They won’t be able to do the convention but here we are, the first convention to choose the. See executives, the governors pulled themselves together, we did break our backs and we are here, very happy and confident and courageous to tell you that the cat that lies down quietly is not a pretension of death but breeding of its energy to devour its enemies.
“Now we are here, we will roar. We will do it. We will tell Poverty Development Party. They call themselves PDP, 16 years of failures of wastefulness, we day step aside, be buried and leave the way for us. We will repair our country. We are Progressives, we are nation builders. We are not destroyers. We are confident that this nation is back in track,” he said.
On the rising killings and insecurity in the country, Tinubu said: “We are not the barbaric, blind human beings they think we are. They are setting us against in another. When you were born, you didn’t hear from the womb whether you would be a male or female, Christian or Muslim. You were born to your parents and adopted their religions and you continued.
“The Bible taught us to love your neighbour as you love yourself. It did not say kill your neighbour. It is in the two holy books. Goodness for goodness. Learn to accept mistakes, not from gunshots or the destruction of lives and property because the life you take you cannot bring back, the hate you spill cannot cure your hunger. We must build a new society and learn to think a new way of life”.
Tinubu told President Muhammadu Buhari that he was taking his own pound of flesh by keeping him long at the Eagle Square as the president had also kept him waiting sometimes.
While apologising to the President, Tinubu declared; “I didn’t expect to win, but I won and I must be intoxicated by the victory. What can I do?.”
President Buhari, assisted by Abdullahi Adamu, the party’s national chairman and some governors presented the party flag to Tinubu as standard bearer.
