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Brief Remarks by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the APYF, Act Now, CSR and Change Agents Network fundraiser for Buhari/Osinbajo. January 30th, 2015 “ON THE THRESHOLD OF A NEW DAY FOR A NEW NIGERIA” We stand at the portal of momentous change. A new day for a new Nigeria beckons. With the common purpose of bettering this nation to give all her children the justice, prosperity and peace they seek, we shall cross this threshold together, hopeful that our worst days will soon be behind us and that our better future lies within our grasp. Be mindful that this step — winning the election — is laden with consequence and is something that will be hard won. It will require all of our energy, wit, sweat and labor to bring this to pass. The difficulty lies not in the fact that our goal is unpopular. To the contrary, the people clamor for it. Travelling across the expanse of our nation with the campaign of General Buhari and Professor Yemi Osinbajo. I
have
seen something unprecedented. The desire for reform and change is universal. East, West, North, South and even many in the South South cry for it. People of all walks of life, the young and old, the rich and poor, the infirmed and the able of body, people of different ethnic groups and religions hold out the hope that this time this election will be different. People who normally would not talk to each other, now join hands in common cause to bring change to the nation. The truth be told, many who dance with Jonathan during the day, lament their situation at night. They come to us, urging that we win so this yoke of terrible failure can be removed from the neck of an entire nation. However, powerful elements profit from the unjust status quo. They feed off the people’s hunger, enrich themselves on the poverty of others, smile at your misery and inflate their inordinate ambitions by choking even your modest dreams. While this dark army is small in
number, they control vast reservoirs of money and power. That this money and power rightfully belongs to you is of no consequence to them. Ignoring their corrupt crimes against you, they think your claim for restitution is a sin against them. They will hold to what they have with desperate effort and perverse courage. They are ready to fracture this nation in order to keep what they never should have possessed. This election has never been about two political parties with competing ideologies and programs on how to solve our national problems. This election pits a recently formed political party, the APC, and its progressive agenda, against a former political party that has transformed itself into a web of corrupt practice, the PDP. While we may not be perfect, the APC seeks the good of the people in accordance with the will of the people. Meanwhile, the PDP government and the Jonathan administration have shed all pretense of good governance.
They
have long ago pitched their tent in the land of corruption along the fields of greed amongst the blossoms of power lust. So blinded by their ambition they have failed to see the writing on the wall. Worst, they failed to see that their wall had started to crumble. They thought this election would be a shoe-in for the shoeless one. Instead, it has been a series of setbacks and disappointments for the clueless one. They thought our party would never get off the ground. They were wrong. Then they thought they could disrupt our flight by sending double agents and provocateurs into our midst. Their weeds perished while our wheat grew. They thought our primaries would rend us apart. Instead, we held the most transparent and memorable convention in the nation’s history. We emerged from our primaries stronger than we entered them. The PDP would taste the bitter dividend of their ill-will against us. Their convention was as if conducted in a morgue.
Their
primaries were a showcase of intrigue piled upon irregularity. They emerged from their primaries at war with each other. We have sought to make this election about substantive issues, mainly security, the economy and corruption. Take the issue of security as an example. We are committed to reforming the nation’s security apparatus that we might defeat Boko Haram. Because Boko Haram spreads ruin in a part of the nation that strongly opposes President Jonathan’s governance, the PDP has opted for a policy of coexistence with the terrorists. Boko Haram has become a voter suppression machine that abets Jonathan’s reelection. Their policy to defeat Boko Haram is to let it win while making empty promises to the aggrieved that all will be well at some undisclosed time in the indefinite future. The PDP policy of defeating Boko Haram by ceding control of territory to it has been the Jonathan’s administration’s most glaring achievement. He has
succeeded in yielding to the terrorists an area of Nigeria as large as the country of Belgium. Knowing that their record has doomed them, Jonathan and the PDP finally decided to make the election not an election at all. They wanted to turn it into a mudslinging affair. Thus, they have played both sides of the religious card and may be trying to invent a third side. Among Christians, President Jonathan calls General Buhari a Moslem fanatic. Among Moslems, Vice President Sambo now calls Buhari a Christian double agent. Neither Christian nor Moslem should be enticed by the flagrant propaganda. The true religion of the PDP is poverty and fear. Their doctrine is divide and rule. We, the APC, believe in prosperity and tolerance. Our gospel is national unity and collective wellbeing. One road leads to ruin and failure. The other to a new day in a new Nigeria. I leave it to you to decide the better path. Jonathan and company try to make issue of the
General’s educational certificate. This attempt has been like a boomerang that has flown back into their open mouths. As it turns out, the General’s educational background is more impressive than Jonathan’s. If the General is not qualified to be president, then Jonathan is not qualified to be the village crier. Then, they convene billionaire militants to threaten war if Jonathan loses a free and fair election. His allies talk treason and high crime under the auspices of government officials but not a word of admonition ventures from the president’s lips. He is silent because he wants a coronation not an honest election. Then, they send their NSA to another country to give a speech about postponing the election because of the slow distribution of PVCs and Boko Haram. Both matters are within the power of government to address. However, due to ineptitude and conscious omission, these problems have grown. Now, true to character, this shameless
horde seeks to benefit from their own failings. They desperately ply the courts seeking a cowering judge who will grant them an injunction stopping the election. They will not succeed. What must come to pass shall come to pass. However, we need your help. We need to stand firm regarding the election date. We also must to work hard to ensure that this campaign remains strong until the very end. We need your support to continue to spread the message of change and reform. We need your support to set-up the logistical and other structures needed to encourage people to vote and to protect that vote. We cannot just rely on our candidate’s popularity and the people’s desire for change. The Abuja cohort will stop at nothing to maintain itself. If it cannot postpone the fateful day, it will attempt the greatest distortion of math and vote tabulation known to man. This is challenge facing us. This is the final hurdle they shall deploy to prevent us
from
taking that final step into our new day. Here, I want to say something particularly to the youth. This is your election. The world is changing before your eyes. Reliance on oil is an expired luxury. To secure your futures, we must revive and modernize this economy. We must give you the requisite skills then allow you meaningful employment that you may work to contribute to the national welfare and your individual wellbeing. There is nothing this government has shown in six years that can give you confidence that it will do the necessary if allowed another four years. Four more years of nonperformance will only separate the nation and you further from your best futures. I have devoted the majority of my adult life to democratic good governance in the Nigeria. We have realized this dream in Lagos and this state has grown as a result. We are on the cusp of doing so at the national level. Let us finish this race together to a victorious end. I ask
that
you do so not for me, not even for the General. I ask that you do so for yourselves. You will benefit the most from good governance but also suffer the greatest should the present level of misgovernment become our norm. Invest in this election for it will pay the priceless dividend of a better future. Work for change by encouraging others to vote and also giving your time, effort and even funds to advance this noble cause. Drop by drop, a mighty river is formed. Person by person, an unbeatable political movement shall we achieve. On February 14 Vote for Buhari because that is a vote for yourselves.
