Tinubu and Fashola
In a bid to neutralise the effect of the visits of President Goodluck Jonathan to Lagos, chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, led by former Governor Bola Tinubu and Governor Babatunde Fashola, will on Saturday hold a one-million-man march.
Lagos, which has the highest number of voters in the country, will be a major battleground between the Peoples Democratic Party and the APC.
Addressing journalists in Lagos on Wednesday, the Lagos State coordinator of the APC Campaign Organisation, Mr. James Faleke, said the walk would begin from Maryland through Allen Avenue and end at Alausa, behind the Ikeja City Mall.
He said, “In order to psychologically prepare the minds of our voters and give a psychological defeat to the opposition, we are planning a one-million-man march on Saturday by 8a.m. It will commence at Maryland through Allen Avenue and will end behind Shoprite, Alausa.
“The walk will be inaugurated by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. It will be led by Governor Fashola, Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, the Lagos State APC governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, and our vice-presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN).
“President Goodluck Jonathan will not get majority of the votes in Lagos even if he relocates to the state.”
Faleke, who represents Ikeja federal constituency at the House of Representatives, said the APC was not intimidated by Jonathan’s visits to the state.
He said, rather, it was Jonathan that was jittery ahead of the elections as he had been doling out dollars to several traders in Lagos.
The legislator, however, boasted that even if Jonathan spent the next three weeks in Lagos, he would still lose because the people of Lagos were ready for change.
He said the APC would win in at least 26 states of the federation in the general elections that would hold on March 28 and April 11.
He said, “By God’s grace, we shall win a minimum of 26 states. Mr. President knows this and that is why he has been coming to the South-West. He spent five days in Lagos distributing dollars. Unknown to him, the people have made up their minds not to vote for him.
“Why is he just coming to the South-West to distribute tax payers’ money?”
Faleke said Jonathan had become intimidated by the APC presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and that was why the President only started fighting insecurity six weeks to the election.
He said, “We thank God for the achievements of the military in recent times. The question is what they refused to do in six years, they woke up after seeing that Nigerians were ready for this change and decided to embark on retracing their steps within three weeks.
“What was amiss before is that the Nigerian military which is respected worldwide could not handle common insurgents in six years but in just three weeks, they have been able to come out and do well?”
BY ENIOLA AKINKUOTU
