Former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforuji, has said that the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), might be won by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on a platter of gold.
This came as the list of presidential aspirants continue to swell with the entrance the Senate Chief Whip and two-term Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, who joined others like the former Senate Presidents, Anyim Pius Anyim, Dr. Bukola Saraki and Governor David Umahi.
Kalu, on a national television, said he is the most qualified for the presidential race having come from the South-East even as he lamented the current balkanisation of the country along ethnic and parochial lines, and promised that the 250 ethnic nationalities in Nigeria would be given a sense of belonging as a basis for national cohesion.
He said: “My priority would be security of lives and property of our people,” even as he promised the nation economic miracle if elected, especially in view of Nigeria’s ebbing economy, high inflation, spiraling unemployment and debt overhang.
Ikuforiji, in an interview with Sunday Telegraph, spoke glowing of Tinubu’s chances stating: “If nothing at all, at least, you will give it to him. He is a great political strategist. When it comes to political strategy, he is a magician and it would not surprise me, despite the side noise here and there if he picks the presidential ticket of the APC on a platter of gold.”
He alluded to Tinubu’s antecedents, stating that, “there are very few Nigerians alive today that fought for democracy in Nigeria as Asiwaju has done. Right from his days in the Senate, through the June 12 struggle, Asiwaju has been there.
“During his eight years as governor, Lagos turned out to become the number one state in this country under his leadership. He did not only bring what we call modernisation into governance, he took the state to the envy of all other states in the country. Within eight years of his tenure, he established the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service and took the monthly internally generated revenue of the state from about N600 million to over N10 billion. Today that IGR has risen to N60 billion, more than the IGR of 20 states put together.
“He brought in people who were capable of helping him to build the economy of the state. That was the first of its kind in the country, where politicians went to headhunt professionals, who can actually help to run government. He brought in people like Wale Edun, Cardoso; he brought in the current Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo from the academia and people like Dele Alake, who you know so well from the media. With these eggheads, he was able to make solid omelet of good governance in Lagos.”
