₦airaland Forum

The Conference of Yoruba Obas has unanimously endorsed the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for Saturday’s presidential election, noting that the former Lagos State governor is eminently qualified to lead Nigeria.

The traditional rulers of the Yoruba people from Ekiti, Lagos, Kogi, Kwara, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo states, disclosed this in a communique issued after their meeting last at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Oyo State.

It was learnt that the traditional rulers were satisfied with Tinubu’s presentation during the meeting.

Part of the communiqué read, “They acknowledged Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s solid democratic credentials and unwavering commitment to the entrenchment of democracy in Nigeria.”

On his part, the Olugbon of Orile-Igbon and Vice Chairman, Oyo State Council of Obas and Chief, Oba Francis Olushola Alao, added that “The meeting was unique and symbolic towards the unity of the Yoruba speaking state because it goes beyond southwest which includes Kogi and Kwara.

“It’s a clear endorsement of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a result of his excellent track record and great achievement which put him above other candidates as the only personality that would bring unity, fairness and justice to the Nigeria system”.

The meeting, which was attended by first-class kings and chiefs from all the six states in the South West as well as Yoruba-speaking parts of Kogi and Kwara, affirmed their faith and support for Nigeria’s unity, peace, prosperity and progress as well as pledged to support the democratic process based on free choices according to universal adult suffrage freely exercised by the people.

Chukwuma Soludo, governor of Anambra, has accused his predecessor, Peter Obi, of denying the Labour Party (LP) the opportunity to freely campaign in the state when he was governor.

Soludo spoke on Thursday in an interview on Channels Television.

During the interview, the Anambra governor was asked to react to allegations from LP leaders that the state government is restricting the party in terms of political campaigns.

Reacting, Soludo said he had twice granted Obi, LP presidential candidate, the opportunity to use government properties in the state for campaign.

“It does not worth my time to comment on the rantings of some people — about their billboards or no billboards and so on,” he said.

“I don’t want to be drawn into that. I think that has been exhaustively dealt with by the government and the Anambra state signage agency that regulates this.

“The point that was repeated is that the signage agency had commended me for being the most tolerant governor as it regards free and fair electoral practice.

“It is on record and everybody knows that I have twice granted the presidential candidate of the Labour Party to use government properties — government house — for his campaign without charging him a penny.

“Nobody has done that. He did not do that when he was in government. He did not even allow Labour Party, where he is now, to freely campaign in Anambra. He denied them even the venue that they paid for.

“But I have allowed him to use the government house twice free of charge. They were in Onitsha to go and campaign. They have their billboards all over the place but the point is when you failed to play by the rule, you put up billboards and you don’t pay for the relevant things. Of course, the signage agency will come after you.

“Even yesterday, I heard a complaint they pulled down even the billboard of an APGA candidate for a federal house. He has not paid and they pulled it down. This is the state’s rule of law.

“Even when they said their billboards were pulled down, you go all over the state, the billboards are lining up everywhere, where they have met the terms and conditions for that.

“They want some kind of entitlement. We can’t continue to give them everything for free. PDP, APC, and others are not complaining. Why only them?”

Obi was governor of Anambra three times between 2006 and 2014, owing to a series of legal battles occasioned by impeachment and issues on election schedule.

Obi became governor on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), but left the party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in October 2014, and joined LP in May 2022.

The LP presidential candidate was the governor of Anambra during the December 2013 governorship election, and Ifeanyi Ubah, now a senator, was the then-governorship candidate of the LP in Anambra.

Iloveu778:
Lol 30!% 😀 okay..Saturday is not too far.
Your delusion go soon clear

Omowale2023:
Stop deceiving yourself.
Based on facts and history. The core north has not voted for any southerner by over 50%. If Tinubu wants to wins this elections.....Tinubu needs a minimum of 51 to maximum of 75%. Which as it stands, not Possible, Atiku will get at least 40%, RMK will get at least 25% and Obi will get 25% from the core north, the scraps will be left for Tinubu and others to share. 3 people are sharing 85% of the core north. This elections will be very interesting. Can't wait. Obi has arrived. Our President.

At the palace of the Shehu of Borno on Saturday, the Borno State governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum said something brief but profound. He was introducing the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to the revered monarch. Tinubu, Zulum said, had been there for Borno and its people at the most difficult times of its 1,200-year history. When many people gave up the city of Maiduguri as a forsaken theatre of Boko Haram insurgents, Asiwaju Tinubu was there. Not once.

In the words of Governor Zulum: "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."

That testimonial by Governor Zulum gives only a glimpse of the enduring relationship that Asiwaju Tinubu has built with the northern Nigeria and its people over the years. E no be today, to use Nigerian street lingo.

The relationship had been an organic one built on the pillars of friendship, empathy and togetherness devoid of the political quid pro quo of you-rub-my-back-I-rub-yours. It is therefore a little wonder that the man is so widely accepted by the people on the other side of the
Niger. This is visible from the wild reception his campaign train received in key northern states; from Kaduna, the region's defunct headquarters, to Kano, its commercial nerve centre and up to the capitals of the North's traditional systems of the Fulani (Sokoto) and Kanuri (Borno).

Reacting to photos of the mammoth crowd from one of those outings, a twitterati exclaimed: "Northerners don put this Tinubu matter for head". Yes, in a country where our politics often exposes our schisms that could be surprising. But it is the North's way of first acknowledging merit and, second, appreciating years of genuine friendship and camaraderie.

It is for this reason that despite the weightlifting effort of the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his strategists to whip up ethnic and regional sentiments majority of the people have refused to buy into their selfish gimmick. The question on many lips is: What has that candidate [Atiku Abubakar] done for the people of the North to warrant a harvest at the polls? The people are evidently wiser as to identify with the person who has always been there for them over one who nominally claims to be their own.

The story of Asiwaju Tinubu's association with the North is a long one. I will attempt a quick recast.

Tinubu's consequential political journey began with the North. At the beginning of the windy Third Republic botched transition, Tinubu pitched his tent with the late Shehu Musa Yar'Adua. He chose to work with Yar'Adua even when his own kinsman, Lateef Jakande was on the ballot. When the Late Chief MKO Abiola emerged the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Tinubu played a prominent role in tipping up Ambassador Babagana Kingibe as Abiola's running mate.

In more recent times Tinubu had burnt the candle at both ends in his support for the ambition of Northerners in four consecutive presidential elections: Atiku in 2007, Nuhu Ribadu in 2011 and President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and 2019. This is in addition to dozens of others he supported for various positions unconditionally out of true altruism. It is a twist of fate and funny that both Atiku and his campaign chief, Governor Aminu Tambuwal, were beneficiaries of Tinubu's political magnanimity, the latter for his emergence as the House of Representatives speaker in 2011.

Beyond the shores of politics, Tinubu has always identified with predicaments faced by the North. He also paid more than just a lip service. In fact he acted much more than he spoke or showed up. As a permanent resident of Nigeria, he associate more closely with the happenings around the country and has always extended hands of fellowship or offered his metaphorically large shoulders for to shoulder parts of the burden. He had been to places from Zamfara to Birnin Gwari to console victims of banditry and offer hope and aid. No one else, not the person shouting 'I'm your own' had been to any of these places for purposes other than rallies.

In the weeks leading to the election day, and in the opposition's desperation to paint Tinubu with tar brush, they manufactured many lies. For a man who turned the tide of the OPC violence and integrated the Hausa community in Lagos, the charged him of direct opposite. For someone who went to the Arewa House in Kaduna in mid-October and spoke to the admiration and commendation of northern elders —some of them Atiku's own foot soldiers—a hireling came late in the race to say he had no plans for the North.

Their lies had been debunked again and again. Northerners living in Lagos had came out to speak of how Tinubu and his policies gave them a place and opportunities to excel. A Katsina man is today a commissioner in Lagos state —a tradition started by Tinubu—many others are elected into different positions of leadership. Millions of children of northern extraction have benefitted from Tinubu's non-discriminatory policy of free education. A lot of them have gone to excel in different fields.

At the beginning they went about with the insinuation that Tinubu is a sick man. He shamed the naysayers through his effortless but very grueling campaign. All the lies have crumbled like a pack of cards and it is now time for Nigerians to vote for the candidates they can trust and one with original ideas and the track records of drawing water from a dry well.

The vibe out there is positive. Asiwaju's sippoand teeming voters are upbeat to deliver him comes Saturday. They have trashed the tales of ethnic mongers and have chosen the path of honour and fairness which demands that good is return with goodness.

As the colonial officer, Sir Brian Sharwood Smith wrote about the relationship between the Britain and its then northern Nigerian colony, Tinubu may have come from Lagos and speak no Hausa or Fulfulde but he has proven to be always a friend of the North. The trustworthy people that they are the northerners are ready to reciprocate his friendship and love.

Q: In Nigeria, if a presidential candidate wins the majority of the votes but doesn't have 25% in 24 states, and his closest rival has 25% in 24 states but doesn't win the majority of the votes, what happens?

A: In Nigeria, the Constitution provides that for a presidential candidate to be declared the winner, the candidate must obtain the highest number of votes and at least one-quarter of the votes in at least two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In the scenario you presented, if a presidential candidate wins the majority of the votes but doesn't have 25% in 24 states, and his closest rival has 25% in 24 states but doesn't win the majority of the votes, neither of them would be declared the winner.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Nigeria may declare the election inconclusive and schedule a rerun election in the affected states where neither candidate met the constitutional requirement of obtaining at least 25% of the votes.

During the rerun election, both candidates would be allowed to contest again, along with any other candidate that meets the eligibility criteria for the presidential election. The candidate with the highest number of votes and at least one-quarter of the votes in at least two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would be declared the winner of the presidential election.

Hopium:
See them! That's all they want - the social media clout and the attention.

Peter Obi understood this and he deployed his strategy. Ned is using the same strategy along with Regina - double combo.

After this election, politicians will understudy this social media frenzy and curate online strategies before the next election cycle.

The fellow below me said natural love. Natural ko. Organic ni.

They are tools in the hand of Ned. He's letting them fams with Regina because she has the youth appeal. They will make IG live videos, selfies with Regina and Ned in the background. Na them go still market Ned on social media platform, whatsapp status, twitter, instagram etc. They will claim clout "I dey with Regina" and patapata, Ned go give them drinks, snacks and shinkini money inside white envelope.

FatherOfJesus:
Mark this.

If Peter Obi wins on Saturday, Sanwolu will be voted out as well.

ojoadeola:
Please be aware that the election in Lagos is not as you have it

Tinubu will win with a very wide margin

I have surveyed the Lagos area and discovered that those rooting for Obi are mainly Ibos and some Youths.

The believe that Yoruba Christians will vote for Obi is a ruse. The Yorubas understand better that religion does not matter in their politics.

If the Presidential election had come up in December 2022, Peter Obi would have done better and challenged Bola Tinubu, but the events of the past few weeks (the Naira Swap, and the ethnocentric view that the North are persecuting him) have brought the people back to Tinubu. This is evident in the boldness of URCHINS to attack and speak on Nairaland in recent days, as well as the view around the city about Tinubu and no one else.

Taking a cue also that the coming of significant developments from the Federal to Lagos State has happened majorly in this government when their son's party is in power.

They also believe that the Security of Yorubas would be more assured if they have their Son (Tinubu) in power, rather than Peter Obi who may focus on security in his own domain.

The major determinant of this shift to Tinubu is the fact that Tinubu will help them regain the losses they may likely suffer if the current Naira swap challenges continue. Thus the cliche, "vote Tinubu and continue to spend your old Naira till December 2023)

His boldness against the powers that be also gave him out as someone who would not be afraid to take some bold steps to solve Nigeria's problems.

At the National level, the continuous push and advertisement that it is the turn of the South to produce the President will work to favour Tinubu.

My final verdict - Tinubu will win Lagos, and win the National election

Ruggedniggaone:
you forgot to include borno and yobe

olivegirl:
Honestly I don't blame you because you are not outspoken to call opinionated person noise maker. I only blame igbos for always making other tribes see what they can't see.