By Jide Orintunsin, Abuja and Fanen Ihyongo, Kano
A support group, Youth for Tinubu Initiative (YTI), has said All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart and a presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will not leave the ruling party for any other aspirant or power bloc.
YTI’s National Coordinator Ajibola Afolayan gave the assurance while addressing reporters yesterday in Abuja.
He said the group was convinced that Asiwaju Tinubu’s network across the geo-political zones would give him the APC presidential ticket.
Dismissing the rumour of plan by the former Lagos State governor to abandon the ruling party for another, if denied the presidential ticket, Afolayan said: “Under no circumstance will Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu defect to another political party. He built the APC. Asiwaju Tinubu was one of the founders of APC. In fact, his resilience, despite all odds, ensured the success of the merger of the defunct parties that we now call Legacy Parties.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has always attributed his victory at the APC presidential convention and the 2015 general election to the selfless efforts of Bola Tinubu and a few others.
“We are convinced that his network across the geo-political zones would deliver the presidential ticket of APC for him.
“He has laboured to build the APC. The issue of abandoning the platform that he built doesn’t arise. He will get the APC ticket because we are sure that it is payback period for him.”
Afolayan expressed optimism that Asiwaju Tinubu would become the APC standard bearer in a free and fair primary election.
Advising its members not to relent in mobilising and creating awareness for the presidential ambition of the former Lagos State governor, Afolayan expressed concern over the power tussle rocking the party ahead of its national convention and urged the stakeholders to sheathe their swords and work as a united political family.
Another support group for Asiwaju Tinubu, Northern Young Professionals for Tinubu (NYPT), has opened offices in Kano State.
This followed the launching of the support group in the state for the actualisation of the 2023 presidential ambition of the APC stalwart.
NYPT’s National Coordinator, Alhaji Abdullahi Tanko Yakasai, commissioned two offices at the Avenue Event Centre, on Murtala Muhammad Way in Kano city and at Yankaba in Nassarawa Local Government Area.
Yakasai said the simultaneous opening of the offices showed the seriousness and commitment of the group in doing “what is good at the right time”.
The NYPT national coordinator said the group was formed by like-minded persons to participate in politics and become part of the nation’s political development.
On why the group was supporting the former Lagos State governor, he said: “What we found in Asiwaju Tinubu are qualities of a great leader, because great leaders have two characteristics. These are: building on the capacity of their people, as well as their environment.
“Asiwaju Tinubu is well known as a great builder all through his political life. He has impacted the lives of so many people.”
Yakasai urged members of the group,
He promised that as captains of professional fields, “we will go all out to mobilise support from all APC members in the state, employees, families, friends, well-wishers, and campaign to them that the person we should vote for is no other person than Asiwaju Bola Tinubu”.
Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who spoke through the Managing Director of KAROTA, Alhaji Baffa Babba Dan’agundi, said voting for Asiwaju Tinubu is the answer to the myriad of problems bedevilling the nation.
He said this could be attested to by the former governor’s laudable achievements in Lagos State governor where he increased the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) within a short time and created gainful employment for the teeming youths.
A close associate of the former governor, Hamza Darma, extolled the virtues of the presidential aspirant and rated him as “the best contestant and someone who will competently navigate the ship to the Promised Land after President Muhammadu Buhari”.