The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress,
Bola Tinubu, has commended the President, Muhammadu Buhari, for leaving the
party’s presidential ticket open for all aspirants.
He said this in a letter to the President, which he
personally signed. The letter was made public by Buhari’s media aide, Femi
Adesina, on Saturday.
In a copy of the letter obtained by NigerianEye, Tinubu said he didn’t believe that Buhari had no preferred
presidential aspirant until the night of the primary when the aspirants walked
up to the podium and spoke.
He also described Buhari as a “true leader, brother and
friend” who demonstrated a “sense of purpose, composure, and maturity” in the
weeks leading to the Special Convention of the Party.
Tinubu expressed gratitude for the President’s
congratulatory letter to him, adding that while all the contestants expected
President Buhari to “choose” his successor, he simply allowed a level playing
field.
Recall that Tinubu defeated 13 other aspirants to emerge as
the party’s candidate at the end of the Special National Convention of the
party on Wednesday, June 1, 2022, in Abuja.
Tinubu scored 1,271 votes to clinch the APC presidential
ticket for the 2023 general election.
The other aspirants included Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajuba, Pastor
Tunde Bakare, Chief Ikeobasi Mokelu, Senator Rochas Okorocha, Mr Tein Jack-Rich
and Governor Ben Ayade.
Others were Governor David Umuahi, Senator Ahmad Yarima, Dr
Ahmed Lawal, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, Governor Yahaya
Bello and Mr Ogbonnaya Onu.
The race began with 23 aspirants but nine withdrew shortly
before the commencement of voting at the convention.
They included Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohnenye, Dr Felix Nicholas,
former Gov. Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, former Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun,
former Speaker Dimeji Bankole, Sen. Ajayi Boroffice, Gov. Muhammad Badaru of
Jigawa, Sen. Ken Nnamani and Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.
Read full letter:
Dear Mr President,
DEEP APPRECIATION
I bring you sincere fraternal greetings and congratulations on the
successful conclusion of the special Presidential Convention of our great
party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
On behalf of my wife, Oluremi, and my entire family, I want to express
my sincere gratitude for the very special and personal congratulatory letter
you sent to me. I am deeply honored. Your words in that letter were reassuring,
reenergising, and reinvigorating.
Your Excellency, one must admire the sense of purpose, composure, and
maturity you demonstrated in the weeks and months preceding the primary
elections of our great party. As aspirants and party leaders, we all pleaded
with you to “choose” your successor.
Naturally, this is expected especially in African democracy. Up until
the 6th of June, 2022, the day of the APC Presidential primaries, the whole of
Nigeria, including myself, was waiting for you to announce your preferred
candidate. All of us thought and believed this was a very simple matter.
However, it was only as the primary went into the night and as the
candidates walked up to the podium and spoke that I fully and truly appreciated
your position and stance to be neutral and non-aligned to any of us. As the
first person to speak, I also had the special vantage point to carefully hear,
without any distraction, what the other candidates had to say.
As the hours rolled by that evening, it became clear to me that all of
us were your preferred candidates. As you captured it aptly in your letter to
me, the “spirit” of 2013 and 2014 when we created and built APC was there for
all to see.
In your letter and in our many meetings over the years, you fondly
reminisced on fraternal attitude in the days and months before and after
formation of the APC, when we all worked day and night to create, sustain and
nurture our nascent movements into a credible opposition party and ultimately,
become the ruling party. That time, no one spoke about tribe; no one spoke
about religion. That was not what drove us. We were driven by a common desire
to save and transform Nigeria.
One by one, I saw my colleagues and partners stand on the podium, full
of the same passion and patriotic zeal they had in 2013/2014, presenting their
ideas on how to build on your successful legacy. Back then, as it is now, we
were from all parts of the country, all tribes, and all religions. We all had
deep personal and strong bonds with you. We were together back then and our
bonds remained strong up till now.
Mr. President, as the night of 6 June turned to morning of 7 June, I
fully understood and appreciated your stance. “You belonged to everybody in the
party and you belonged to none of the individual candidates of the party.” A
true leader, brother and friend.
Mr. President, the delegates from all over the country nominated my
humble self to be their candidate. I must acknowledge that my nomination would
not have become a reality without your support and that of the party leaders
across the country. Indeed, as I reflect on my political journey, most of the
2022 APC presidential aspirants, members of the Progressive Governors Forum and
National Assembly leaders and members all had a role to play in my successes
and achievements thus far.
I will forever be grateful to them for shaping my political journey
over the decades. I want to assure you that I will continue to work with them
going forward. My emergence as a candidate is also a victory for them.
I have met most of them in the past few days and will continue these
engagements as we plan for the general elections. Mr. President, APC is united
and will remain united as we move towards the general elections.
I have taken note of the message you sent to all Presidential
Candidates in your Democracy Day speech to the nation on the 12th June, 2022. Our
country is going through a very sensitive period and no one should put their
personal desires above and beyond the nation’s peace and prosperity.
As you said, the “message we set at the top will be replicated in our
followers.” At this point, I will take this opportunity to assure Your
Excellency of my commitment to running an issue focused campaign as we move
into the general elections. I will personally engage the candidates from other
political parties to urge them to do same. Voters should elect us based on our
policies, programmes, and projects. By the grace of God, we as candidates will
avoid having divisive, destructive and disruptive campaigns.
I will conclude by once again thanking you for being there for all of
us. By the grace of God and with your leadership, guidance and support, I am
confident that we will lead our great party, the APC, to victory in the
February 2023 general elections. We will ride on the back of your successes. We
will build on the foundations of transparency and integrity which you have
laid.
Mr President, together, side by side, in the spirit of 2014, we will
win and Nigeria will move forward to a progressive, peaceful and prosperous
future.
Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu
APC Presidential Candidate
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