The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Sunday, promised that his administration will revive the manufacturing sector and diversify the economy for the benefit of everyone.
The former Lagos State governor stated this, according to a statement issued by his media aide, Mr Tunde Rahman, during a town hall meeting with Muslim leaders from South West in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Tinubu said, “Regarding the economy, we seek to repair the very structure of the economy. We can no longer flourish as an economy based on natural resource extraction.
“We must become a dynamic, diversified economy where those who want to work can find a good job. But let us also be a society sufficiently compassionate to help those who cannot help themselves.
“We must revive manufacturing and industrial growth to create jobs as well as produce the goods and services that improve the daily lives of the average person.
“We seek a minimum of six per cent growth annually through reform of our industrial policy, infrastructural enhancement, power sector innovation, and significant budgetary reform.”
The APC candidate also urged religious leaders to encourage their followers to come out to vote in the forthcoming elections.
“I ask you to urge your followers to come out and vote and to do so wisely. Vote for a candidate that has a vision for a peaceful, prosperous Nigeria where tolerance and compassion undergird our constitutional and legal rights. My pledge to fairness and justice is consistent with the tenets of the Islamic faith.
“A leader in a plural society like ours is enjoined to be a leader of all. If elected, I shall govern honestly and democratically in harmony with our nation’s constitution,” he added.
Also speaking at the event, the President of Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria, Alhaji Rasaki Oladejo, noted that the event provided an opportunity for the APC candidate to interface with Muslim leaders in the South-West on his plans for the nation if elected, “particularly on how he could make the country a land of great opportunities where no man will be oppressed.”
The National Chief Missioner of Anwar-ur- Deen Movement, Sheikh Ahmad Abdulrahman, said, “The gathering was not to campaign or endorse Asiwaju or any candidate but to seek and to know and to see whether Asiwaju Tinubu can still deliver for the country as he did as governor of Lagos State.”
Knocks for Atiku
Meanwhile, the APC Campaign Council urged Nigerians on Sunday not to fall for the ‘sugar-coated’ promises of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The development comes only hours after Atiku committed to providing all Abuja indigenes with their entitlements and appointments if elected.
Atiku made the commitment at the PDP presidential rally in Abuja on Saturday, along with promising to ensure the ambitions of Abuja residents in a reviewed constitution.
However, the APC presidential campaign council kicked against Atiku’s proposed development and warned that the opposition flag bearer is striving too hard to deceive the people with empty promises.
This was disclosed in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by the Director of Media and Publicity for the APC PCC, Bayo Onanuga.
Onanuga said a party that should be eternally shameful about its appalling record in governance between 1999 and 2015 is busy attempting to rewrite history and embellish the ‘locust years’ as if it were a golden era in Nigeria’s history.
He said, “We need to warn Nigerians to be wary of the sugar-coated promises of former vice president, Atiku Abubakar and his Peoples Democratic Party as they embark on their inordinate and desperate campaign to gain power at all cost.
“What is more shocking is Atiku’s audacity in standing up to ask for our votes despite what his boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, wrote about him in his book, ‘My Watch.’ Obasanjo wrote that it would have been an unpardonable mistake and a sin against God to foist him on Nigeria. Until tomorrow, Obasanjo believes this.”
Onanuga accused Atiku of “spewing a series of lies, making empty promises, and presenting a false narrative about our present reality and the legacy of the 16-year ignoble era of the PDP administration, of which he was a principal actor.
“He claimed at his rally in Abuja on Saturday that the country is not secure for trading and farming, a false narrative that he has been pushing around for some time, since he relocated to Nigeria from his base in Dubai, principally to contest the election.”
