Direct or indirect primaries, Tinubu is indomitable — Jibrin

…He has all it takes to lead Nigeria to promised land – Shettima

By Joel Oladele – Abuja

The Director General, Support Groups Management Council (SGMC), Abdulmumin Jibrin, has reaffirmed that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will  emerge the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC regardless of the mode of primaries adopted by the party.

He made this known at an event held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja on Monday.

The event was organised to harmonise activities of all Bola Tinubu Support Groups.

In his speech, Jibrin urged the various support groups that converged at the venue to be up and doing as they are already a formidable team that cannot be defeated whether the party decide to adopt direct or indirect primaries provided all hands are on deck.

“It is going to come handy, whether it is the direct primaries or the indirect primaries that is adopted, support groups are key. If it is the direct primaries, you are the voters. I don’t see how anybody can defeat us in an election. If it is indirect primaries where delegates are going to vote, these delegates are not going to drop from heaven. These delegates are your neighbours. They are your relatives. They are your brothers. They are your sisters. They are your mothers. They are your uncles.

“So if it is in the other primaries, if we have our members of the support groups, of course, it is an automatic vote. If we do not have the support groups we will play a key role in going door to door, house to house to campaign to these delegates.

“This is a gathering of delegates from over 2,500 support groups of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu. 2,500 because we have worked day and night to also streamline the groups and be sure that the 2,500 delegates are all rooted from the national level to the state level, to the local government, to the wards and of course the units. So this is purely a gathering of delegates nominated by these support groups.

“This is not a Campaign Council and we try to explain that over and over again so that we are not accused of starting a campaign when the campaign has not commenced. These are all preliminary preparatory activities in our own foresight to continue to organise the support groups for easy management and to be able to achieve the objectives that we set out to achieve.

“All you can do now is when we all go back to our constituencies is to continue our aggressive political mobilisation based volunteering. We must continue to recruit people. Let’s not just assume that we’ve had enough. Let’s continue to recruit people at the state level, the local government level, the ward level and the most important, the electoral unit at the unit level, massive aggressive recruitment and let’s keep these people in the kitty,” Jibrin said.

The Director General added that Nigerians cannot afford to toy with 2023 election because it’s about the future, thus the need to vote the best amongst the best candidates.

“2023 is about our future, we can’t toy with it. We can’t take chances. We want the best hand. Yes, within the APC we have said repeatedly, we have very good hands. We have  competent and qualified people that can be President but we have someone that has an edge and beyond having an edge, we want someone that combines the competence, the qualification and the capacity, to win the election and who has that the whole of that all combined? Asiwaju! Asiwaju! Asiwaju!” the DG added.

He also used the occasion to appeal to people to double their support for the current government, under the leadership of President Mohamadu Buhari in order for him to deliver on his promises and actualise his good policies maximally before leaving office next year.

“I think something is very important, one we must continue to support President Muhamadu Buhari. All of us support President Buhari but we have gotten to a critical point where we are even supposed to double our support for this government to ensure that all of the good intentions that he has for this country and all the good policies are being implemented to logical end until he finishes his term.

“So, I am calling on all of us, support groups spread across the country, we are millions and millions and millions in numbers supporting Tinubu to continue to focus, I know we have being doing it, but we must be very conscious of that and continue to put in our best to see that we continue to support our Baba, Muhammadu Buhari,” Jibrin solicited.

Earlier in his keynote address titled: “The Time Has Come To Choose Wisely,” former Governor of Borno state, Senator Kashim Shettima, said Nigeria needs “a leader who panders to neither ethnic nor religious agenda, and one who isn’t bound by toxic regional solidarity and yet known for a track record of outstanding leadership. If you look round this country in search of such a noble character, the count easily falls on the subject of this gathering: Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

He went further to describe Tinubu as one great living legend of democracy in the country who didn’t spare his resources to fight for the return of this democracy even in the face of persecutions from the military dictatorship.

“The path that led us to Asiwaju didn’t happen by chance. His propensity for sacrificing his comfort to save our democracy has been duly documented across time. When uncertainty loomed over the country during the military era, this was the man who disbursed his resources to fight for the return to this democracy.

“Even in exile, he provided sanctuaries for fleeing patriots who are still around to testify to his large heart. Our younger compatriots must be in the know of Tinubu’s memories from two decades past—when he was a backbone of the opposition and fiercely antagonized and politically ostracised by the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party. He even built the economic foundations of the modern Lagos State at the time the State was isolated by a vindictive Federal Government.

“While Tinubu’s political contemporaries were trading their principles for a place at the table in Abuja during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s era, and throwing their political allies under the bus, he took the risk to build a political alternative to the ruling party and his choices of candidates underlined his political credentials.

“He became, and has remained, a dependable sanctuary of victims of political witch-hunts. In 2007, he offered his political structure to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to run for President under the Action Congress (AC) banner. Four years later, he made this structure available for Malam Nuhu Ribadu, and this foresight of the Jagaban Borgu would also set the tone of the 2015 general elections. His place as a fulcrum of the All Progressives Congress re-asserted his essence, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude and deserved loyalty for prioritizing principles over personal gains.”

The former Governor of Borno state, however, added that it wasn’t going to be an easy race but all is set in favour of Tinubu as he’s the one who has all it takes to lead Nigeria to the promised land.

“But in politics, of course, the camps with nothing to sell always choose the mud. We are not going to take the bait. We are going to keep them talking and busy with irrefutable records of Asiwaju’s suitability to lead this country to the promised land.

“I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, for those who’ve been in the system for long understand that some character’s loyalty has a thing in common with a chameleon. What we promise, however, is to make sure that all Nigerians are presented with a side of the Jagaban Bornu other than the fiction and half-truths from political desperadoes clinging to the rigging of a sinking ship.

“This is why we are here—to build and mobilise a network of believers and volunteers at the grassroots to help us deliver the Nigeria of our dream,” he said.

The event was attended by various political juggernauts from nooks and crannies of the country to drum their support for the long time ambition of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.