Lagos one-million-man march
Thousands of members and supporters of the All Progressives Congress, on Saturday, held a ‘one-million-man march’ in Lagos for the March 28 and April 11 elections.
The march began at Maryland in Ikeja, the city’s capital, at 8.20am.
The train moved from Maryland through Ikorodu Road to Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere.
Those who led the march included former Governor of Lagos State and national leader of the APC, Senator Bola Tinubu; Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola; Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji; APC governorship candidate in Lagos, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode; and APC candidate for Lagos-Central Senatorial District, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
Others present included Senator Gbenga Ashafa and Mr. Dele Adeleke, among others.
Governor Aregbesola, in his speech said President Goodluck Jonathan has brought misery and bad luck to Nigeria.
Dressed in white jumpsuit and a pair of trainers to match, the Osun state governor sang that President Jonathan would be sent packing come March 28 at the presidential poll.
Addressing the gathering at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos State, after the one-million-man march, Aregbesola who spoke in the Yoruba language compared Jonathan to the Biblical Jonah in the Bible who brought misery to the mariners in the ship he boarded before he was thrown overboard.
“That is the Biblical Jonah. The Nigerian Jonah is President Goodluck Jonathan. Jonathan was named Goodluck because his father thought he would bring blessing and prosperity to the land. God gave him the privilege but he has failed to do the work God asked him to do. What did the mariners do to Jonah?
“They threw him into the sea. We’re not going to throw Jonathan into the sea. We are going to use our votes to carry him back to his village, Otuoke. We have to vote right; we have to vote for change. We must vote for the APC. Jonathan cannot continue to rule Nigeria. He has brought bad luck to the country. His name has changed from Goodluck to bad luck,” Aregbesola said.
Speaking earlier, a national leader of the APC and former governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu, stated that the march was a march for change in the country’s leadership.
Tinubu said, “We are marching for common sense revolution. I thank you all for marching for change. By now we would have had change in government but the Federal Government changed the elections date. This is March, we’ll march for Buhari and Osinbajo. We started this walk together.”
In his address, the APC vice presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo called on the audience to vote out Jonathan. According to him, instead of prosperity, Jonathan and the PDP have brought poverty on Nigerians.
“May we not have PDP in Nigerian government again. May we not have PDP again in Aso Villa. May PDP not take away our fortune and our future. Vote for change come March 28 and April 11,” Osinbajo said.
The Lagos State governorship candidate of the APC, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, expressed appreciation for the party’s supporters for taking part in the walk and criticised the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government for the six-week postponement of elections.
BY BAYO AKINLOYE AND TOBI AWORINDE
