Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a leading presidential aspirant of the All Progressive Congress has expressed readiness to slug it out with the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in the 2023 elections.
According to the national leader of the APC, the former Vice President would be a worthy opponent to him in the big fight for the number one position in the country.
Tinubu spoke in a congratulatory message to Atiku after emerging as the PDP presidential candidate at the primary held in Abuja, on Saturday.
The statement quoted Tinubu as saying that he expected the former vice president, who was the presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2019 poll, to be his opponent in the 2023 presidential election.
Tinubu, in the statement made available to journalists by the Director, Media and Communication, Tinubu Campaign Organisation, Bayo Onanuga, congratulated former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for emerging as the PDP standard-bearer.
The statement lauded him for his patriotism and commitment to the progress of the country.
It also congratulated the other PDP contestants for the orderly and peaceful way they conducted themselves and for pledging to rally round the winner, in the true spirit of democratic sportsmanship.
Tinubu said that Atiku’s victory didn’t come as a surprise to Nigerians because of his vast experience as a statesman and veteran of many presidential contests from 1993.
While welcoming the PDP candidate to the race, Tinubu admonished that the coming election should be about issues that would improve the quality of life of Nigerians, bring peace, progress, political stability and solve myriad of socio-political challenges and insecurity currently facing the country.
The statement read, “I welcome the victory of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the just-concluded primary. I look forward to squaring up with him as a worthy opponent in the coming election.
“I have known the former vice president as a formidable politician and a patriot who believes in the unity and progress of our dear country.
“As we move further into the election season, I charge the PDP presidential candidate and all political actors across party lines that we should make this election season one that is devoid of bitterness, rancour and strife.
“We should make our campaigns peaceful and issue-based. Election season should be a festival of ideas that will uplift our country and improve the living condition of all our people.
“Unfortunately for the PDP, its candidate will be burdened to explain why Nigerians should give it another opportunity, after squandering 16 years at the central government, without much to show.
“Nigerians are yet to forget the national ruin and mismanagement of our country for 16 years by successive PDP administrations and this bad memory will dog the campaign of the PDP candidate.
“Nevertheless, I once again congratulate our former vice president for his victory in his party’s primary.”
Tinubu hope to run for president on the platform of the ruling APC would be determined as the party holds its presidential primary in the first week of June.
