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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Former Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Oloye Jumoke Akinjide has said the support the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is enjoying in the North is that of the governors of his party alone.
Akinjide, who is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Oyo State, stated this in an interview with Sunday Tribune.
While examining the chances of the PDP presidential canidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the February 25 election, and the possibility of the northern electorate seeing Tinubu as a benefactor, she said the electorate in the North will vote for the former vice president instead of the former Lagos State Governor.
“I don’t think so. The North East, for example, is solidly behind their candidate because they have never had the presidency. And if El-Rufai thinks that the North owes Tinubu, I think the North West also feels it owes the North East because every president has come from the North West, whether it is Shehu Shagari or Umar Yar’Adua or even Buhari.
“I think the people in the North are supporting Atiku. The governors may be supporting Tinubu. At the end of the day, it is the people’s will that will prevail,” she said.
The former FCT minister, while referencing a statement made by former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, said the northern governors do not have the influence to dictate the trajectory of the poll in the region, but the elders and religious leaders.
“A former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, answered this question when El-Rufai was boasting about northern governors supporting Tinubu. He said the election will tell whether the North has leaders or not, that the North that he knows, it is the elders and the religious and community leaders and intellectual leaders that influence the people in the North and not the governors who are by-products of the leaders.
“So, I think we are going to see who is right. But I suspect it is the people and the true leaders and not the people in the political party that will determine where the votes will go,” she said.
Akinjide described Atiku as the best candidate produced by the region, adding that the PDP flagbearer is a democrat.
“And, honestly, I feel the North has thrown up the best candidate in Atiku in terms of experience, demonstrated commitment to democracy. Atiku left government in 2007 and he has been vying for office of the presidency and has not held the reins of power in Adamawa and has not been deciding who will be governor in Adamawa. He has not dipped his hand in the financial pocket of Adamawa.
“As a democrat, he has left Adamawa to run its finances, unlike the APC candidate who has held Lagos by the jugular for the past 23 years, directly as governor and indirectly as the political leader and the finances of Lagos have been in his control. We don’t want people who will not let Nigeria and Nigerians to exercise their freedom. We don’t want remote control over our people anymore. Atiku is a democrat in the finest sense of the word,” the ex-minister added.