Presidency: Bode George Says Tambuwal Is Ready As Ondo, Oyo PDP Vows To Deliver Bloc Votes

Prominent leader of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] Olabode George has said leading presidential aspirant of the party, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has come of age to be president of Nigeria.

The Lagos state PDP strongman who stated this while receiving Governor Tambuwal at his private office in Ikoyi, went down memory lane to 2014, he urged Mr Tambuwal who was Speaker of the House of Representatives to run for Sokoto state governorship in place of the Presidency which Mr Tambuwal was considering then.

"Let me take you back a bit. In 2014, you came to me and said, oga, I want to run for presidency but I remember telling you "Kadan-Kadan". That the time is not ripe yet and you should go for sokoto governorship instead which you did and obeyed me. but now, the time has come. Governor Tambuwal, now you are ready for presidency."

Speaking further, Mr George added that Governor Tambuwal posses the right character, competence and  temperament to handle a multi dynamic and complex Nigeria.

In Ondo, Governor Tambuwal was received by the immediate deputy governor of the state, Agbola Ajayi as well as well as the state PDP chairman, Fatai Adams.

“I appeal to your conscience to be fair to your party and the people of Nigeria. Do not compromise under any guise the trust given to you to go and nominate people that can win election for our party.

“If we want to win 2023, you have a task for supporting a ticket that is electable and a pan Nigerian ticket. Ondo will play a central role in our government,” he said.

The presidential hopeful said he is a pan Nigerian that would deliver the dividends of democracy that Nigerians had been yearning for.

Mr Tambuwal further urged the delegates to vote for an aspirant that could win the presidential election for the party.

The governor stated that he believes in devolution of powers to the state and local governments.

“Devolution should be done in view with revenue formula.

“Give more responsibility to the state and local government, and then give them more money. They are closer to the people and have experience. Let the centre be lighter,” he said.

Engaging the delegates in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, Tambuwal said he would ensure that equity and transparency reign, if given the opportunity to get the PDP ticket and wins the presidential election.

He said that insecurity and other challenges would be addressed to ensure that lives and property of every Nigerian were secured.

The Sokoto State Governor said that his experience qualified him to lead the country to prosperity.

He implored the party delegates to give him their votes, promising not to let them down.

Commenting, Ogungbenro, who spoke on behalf of the state delegates, described Tambuwal as a competent leader, capable to lead the country.

Leading presidential aspirant and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has reiterated that security and the economy will be his main focus area should he emerge as the flag bearer of the People’s Democratic Party [PDP] and subsequently President of Nigeria.

Mr Tambuwal gave this indication yesterday in Abuja, in continuation of his engagements with stakeholders and delegates of the People’s Democratic Party [PDP] when he met the forum of the former National Working Committee of PDP who are delegates at the May 28 convention. He was accompanied by Senator Tunde Ogbeha, Former governor of Sokoto Attahiru Bafrawa as well as Deputy Governor of Zamfara state, Mahadi Aliu Gusau.

Speaking on the issue of insecurity in Nigeria, Governor Tambuwal said he would personally present a bill for the creation of state police to the National Assembly.

“The main reason why we have so much insecurity is lack of political will. If you say you need the approval of the US government to buy certain ammunition, do you also need their approval to recruit more men into the police, Army and other security agencies? Do we also need US approval to train and retrain our security men?

“What is the firepower of the bandits and other terrorists? In the absence of these sophisticated weapons, can’t we get the AK 47 and other not so sophisticated weapons?

“We must also address the root cause of insecurity like jobs, marginalisation and the rest. If we address marginalisation, we won’t have the issues we have in the South-East. How can there not be someone from the South-East in the 8 top positions of this country? Under my watch, that cannot happen. I had done it before as Speaker of the House of Reps where all zones were considered when we constituted committees. My colleagues are still alive; you can ask them.

Speaking on the economy, the former speaker said the current administration of President Buhari has rubbished whatever gain the PDP government made in the last 16 years adding that he would pay constant attention to the economy.

“We have done it before. We have the best hands in PDP to manage our economy. Not people who want to run for office and also manage our economy,” he said.

Similarly, on restructuring, Governor Tambuwal noted the idea of restructuring differs but stressed that what Nigerians want is inclusive and participatory government.

“Restructuring means different things to different leaders. For example, the appointments commissioners for RMAFC, Civil Service Commission, Federal Character, and Population commissioner should be done by the state and screened by the state House of Assembly with the power of recall. That is restructuring.

“State police is restructuring. But I don’t think it’s possible for Nigeria, at this time, to go back to the regional government. Therefore, we must pick the issues one by one to fix them to suit what Mr A sees as restructuring, What B sees as restructuring. and what C as restructuring.”

Tambuwal who also doubles as the chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum promised the Forum of EX- NWC members that he would not abandon party men who will work for the victory of the party at the poll and run after technocrats noting that “We are all technocrats here. We have gone to the best of schools and excelled in our various fields. I as president will appoint people from within the PDP”.

Speaking on behalf of the members of the Ex-NWC forum, the Chairperson, Kema Chikwe, described governor Tambuwal as a leader who is ready to speak on issues and a truly detribalized Nigeria who for the past 8 or more years has been spending the Christmas holiday in the South East.

Other members of the Forum present at the consultative meeting include Adamu Mu'azu former PDP national chairman, Kola Ologbondiyan, Senator Ben Obi, Jude Okoye, Olisa Metuh, Abdullahi MaiBasira, Eddy Olafeso, amongst others.

Equally, Hon. Abdul Ningi, who described himself as an Atiku Abubakar man but noted that Tambuwal is one leader who can rebuild Nigeria and return PDP to power.

As battle for the People’s Democratic Party PDP’s flag bearer in the 2023 presidential election is gaining momentum, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and presidential hopeful has expressed confident of his emergence as the party’s candidate for the presidential race in the forthcoming primaries.

Tambuwal gave the assurance shortly after casting his vote at the PDP’s Northwest States Zonal Congress in Kaduna on Monday. He said the successful conduct of the party’s zonal congress was a clear indication that its national convention would record hitch-free and positive victory in his favour.

“You know that North-West plays a very significant role in Nigerian politics and Nigerian political configuration, I believe that is a way of sending political signals toward the national convention that we get and by grace of God, we will organize a very successful convention and a very positive victory for that matter”. He explained.

Flanked by his political associates, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives cast his vote shortly after accreditation as part of his civic responsibilities to the party. He appreciated the party leaders and other stakeholders for their enormous contributions towards the success of the congress.

“We thank God that the postponed Northwest congress of our party PDP has taken place very successfully without hitches; we thank all the leaders of the party from the Northwest zone and delegates that attended the congress.

“We thank everyone even the security personnel for their roles in ensuring that we had a very successful congress”. He added.

Other notable politicians, who graced the event, included former Vice President Namadi Sambo, former Kaduna State Governor and former PDP National Chairman, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, former Sokoto state Deputy Governor and Ex-Minister of Water Resources, Muktar Shagari and former Deputy Governor of Zamfara state Mahadi Ali among others.

The party’s North West Zonal Congress held at Ahmadu Bello Stadium Kaduna was organized to elect Zonal Executive Officers and National Ex-Officio members of the party in the North West Zone as part of activities leading to the party's primaries elections.

Chief Olisa Metuh, a former national spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has made a call that the party must present a strong and sellable presidential candidate if the party must return to power in 2023.

The PDP chieftain who made the call when he appeared on Arise TV on Saturday morning noted that not only are Nigerians yearning for the return of PDP, but PDP represents the mind of Nigerians.

“We have the issue of zoning, where the candidate must come from, but for me, the presidency of Nigeria must be on the level of experience, somebody with the right trempament, someone who is acceptable to all sections of this country, all regions in Nigerian. someone who will bring us back to at least where we were as at 2015. not necessarily where the person comes from," the former scribe said.

"If you must talk about where the person comes from, equity demands that it should go to the south east. And south east has 3 of the best aspirant in the PDP. Whereever i go, Nigerians are saying Peter Obi and i believe he can take us to great heights.

"Governorance is not about your own capability, the people need a symbol and make their sacrifices and Peter Obi has that symbol but delegates election is different.

Mr Metuh who is also a lawyer said the country is grossly divided now over the issue of zoning because of the failure of President Buhari.

"Where we are right now, is not an issue is not where you come from, but the best candidate to win election for the PDP. Peter Obi is one of the symbol that can win elections for us but we have other who can equally win the election for us as well. In the absence of a national consensus, we have to bring the best who can get us vote across the country, we have Atiku, we have Tambuwal who has done well as a governor and chairman of the PDP governors forum.

"We need a unifyer, someone who has contacts across the nation, the right temperament and knows that he needs to be team player and have just two candidates who fits into this role but i won't reveal their names yet. The Delegates know if we must win election, then they are just two persons. One is Peter Obi and the second one is from the North. I will come back in a week or two to reveal that person."

Speaking on the political solution for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of IPOB, Mr Metuh said only a political solution for the release of Nnamadi Kanu can save the South East from becoming another North-East.

"If the government had made categorical statement before now, we wont be where we are now especially when we had the issue of herdsmen and others. Now to the issue of Nnmadi Kanu, if we believe the way we handled the issue of Boko Haram was a mistake, then we should change tactics and not repeat the same mistake with Nnmadi Kanu.

"Nnmadi Kanu is not just Nmadi kanu, he is a movement in the south east but some miscreat have takenoppportunity of that to inflict hardship on nigerians in the south east and introduce mafia like life like it happened in Italy.

"We need to dialogue with Nnmadi Kanu not as a person but because of the millions of people he controls and the Presient should have a rethink and have a political solution. A legal solution can take 5 to 10 years to finish a case and do we keep having sit at home? No. So at least for now, let the president sit down with Nmadi kanu and have political solution, any other thing is a dismissal of the problems we are facing right now."Olisa Metuh