. . . APC candidate promises to confront kidnapping, improve agriculture

President Muhammadu Buhari has yet again drummed support for the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying that the candidate is his long term ally.

Speaking separately at the palace of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar III, and at the APC campaign rally in Sokoto, the president said Asiwaju had demonstrated capacity and would do well if elected to lead the country.

“He understands Nigeria very well and he is ever supportive of people wherever they may have come from in Nigeria,” the president told the Sultan.

“I have gone with him to Nasarawa and Katsina and I am here with him today. I will also go with him to any other place. He is the candidate of our party. He emerged from a clearly transparent primary election. We therefore have to follow him as the flagbearer of the party.”

Appealing to the Sultan for support, the president said: “We are here to seek support and help. I am sure we will get the needed help.”

Buhari, who was visibly elated, expressed appreciation to the mammoth crowd for the rousing reception, defying the scorching sun to attend the event.

Presenting Tinubu to the electorate, Buhari urged them to support him and extend his appeal for support for the APC candidate to all other residents.

At both the palace and at the rally, Tinubu expressed appreciation to the leaders and people of Sokoto for the warm reception, promising to acquit himself creditably if given the mandate.

Describing Sokoto as a home for him, the APC candidate appealed for support, urging voters to disregard the antics of other candidates.

“In 2015, the new leaders came to sweep the dirt away with a broom. But the dirt is still left on the ground. We said we need to clean some more. I applied to be the vacuum-cleaner so we can clean the dirt,” he told the cheering crowd.

“We promised we will work hard. We will eliminate corruption. We will eradicate the madness called kidnapping. We will work hard to clean Nigeria of rubbish.

“We promise you better education, job opportunities and better market for our agricultural produce that will make you and your children happy,” he said.

In his speech, the APC Vice Presidential Candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima, challenged PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar to name eight projects he accomplished in the North and eight persons he mentored in his eight years as vice president.

He admonished the people of Sokoto State to disregard PDP's sectional campaign which tells voters to vote one of their own, saying Atiku was only there for his pockets.

Speaking on why the North should vote for Tinubu, Shettima described him as a good man who has always stood by prominent sons of the region.

Quoting a Quranic verse, Shettima added: “The reward for goodness is goodness. He has supported many of our people from Shehu Musa Yar’Adua to Atiku Abubakar in 2007, Nuhu Ribadu in 2011, President Buhari in 2015 and in 2019. We are good people. We are trustworthy. He supported our people, it is our time to reciprocate.

“We should come together and acquit ourselves as people of honour who keep their words.”

In their separate remarks, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, Chairman of the Progressive Governors' Forum Senator Atiku Bagudu and APC National Chairman Senator Abdullahi Adamu all appealed to voters in the state to back the APC presidential candidate and other candidates of the party.

The host and APC leader in Sokoto, Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, assured both Pesident Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu of massive victory for the party at the forthcoming polls.

He said the APC in Sokoto is receiving many defectors who are dissatisfied with the current PDP government in the state. Wamakko presented thousands of decampees into the APC including a prominent philanthropist Alhaji Umarun Kwabo AA (Jarman Sokoto).

Other dignitaries and party leaders who attended the rally included Governors Mohammed Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) as well as former governors Saidu Dakin Gari (Kebbi), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara) and MA Abubakar (Bauchi).

Others were Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi; Minister of Youths and Sports, Sunday Dare; APC Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Abubakar Kyari, members of the National Assembly, and other party chieftains.

•President Buhari raising Tinubu’s hand . . . Thursday in Sokoto

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