Atiku Is An Ingrate – Tinubu Tells Jubilant Supporters In Lagos
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has described Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as an ingrate.
Tinubu whose visit to the state he was governor for 8 years was described as homecoming spared no time to outline his policy, rather took a swipe at Atiku as he has been doing since the campaign began.
He had on occasions taken exception to Atiku’s bid for the presidency in 2023. On Friday at Oporoza, headquarters of Gbaramatu kingdom of Delta State, where he received a traditional title, he called on Atiku to “step down from the presidential race, having run unsuccessfully too many times.
“As I stand before you, there are few of us running. One says he is Atiku, how many times has he been running? He is now tired of running. Let’s tell him to go and sit down and quit the race. Enough is enough.”
Speaking on October 17 at an interactive session with some Northern leaders under the auspices of Arewa Joint Committee, Tinubu said, “I supported Atiku Abubakar in 2007 then. Don’t blame me if I ask for a payback period. It’s payback. Let him endorse me now instead of him conducting rally around Kaduna while I’m talking to you people here.”
On Saturday, he re-echoed the call while addressing jubilant supporters who took over the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos to welcome him home charging people to go and collect their Permanent Voter Cards if they loved him.
While noting that his homecoming was a broom revolution, he however described Atiku as an ungrateful person who has been running since 1999.
“He ran under PDP. He ran in ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria), we accepted him. He is an ingrate. He is not supposed to run again. Use your vote to retire him”, he said of Nigeria’s former Vice President.
The rally had in attendance, members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), state governors including Dapo Abiodun of Ogun, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara, Simon Lalong of Plateau, Aminu Masari of Katsina among others.
Also in attendance were members of the party in Lagos state, and Tinubu Support Groups from across the Southwest region
The supporters paraded the venue in colorful traditional uniform attires and branded T-shirts with images of the presidential flagbearer and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima.
Placards with various inscriptions were also on display as supporters of Tinubu from the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 LCDA in Lagos, parade the venue dancing and carrying placards and insignia of the party.
There was a heavy presence of security personnel including, policemen, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and LASTMA officers coordinating traffic both within and outside the venue to ensure the safety of all participants.
Earlier, the Director-General of the State Campaign Council, Senator Ganiyu Solomon, had said the rally is a homecoming for the former Lagos state governor and the national leader of the party.
