'Marketing Jagaban' Asiwaju more qualified to be President, former SSG asserts

Former Secretary to the Ondo State Government and Ondo State Coordinator of the South West Agenda 23 (SWAGA 23), Ifedayo Abegunde, has stated that the group is focused on ensuring Bola Ahmed Tinubu popularly known as Jagaban’s victory in the 2023 general elections.

Abegunde, also known as Abena, stated that SWAGA 23 has been launched in all units and wards of Ondo State with the goal of ensuring Tinubu’s victory in the presidential election.

He stated that Tinubu was one of the leaders who invested their time, money, influence, and God-given strategic wisdom to make President Buhari’s presidency a reality.

The former Ondo SSG said Tinubu has stood by President Buhari and defended his policies.

According to him: “He gave pieces of advice to the President openly and in private. He has received unearned attacked from the opposition in that regard.

“His response had always been that his support was geared towards making Buhari and the APC achieve qualitative results in the administration of Nigeria.

“Tinubu has made many people. He has built personalities. In the level of governance, some of his followers are participating in managing the economy of Nigeria.

“We started the propagation of Tinubu in the Southwest. As we started, those in the North keyed into it. If you asked them, they will tell you about SWAGA.

“We are marketing Tinubu in such a way that all Nigerians will be convinced. We know what he did in Lagos State. We know the IGR of Lagos State when he came in. We know development in Lagos. Today, Lagos is the fifth economy in Africa.

“We are saying if Tinubu is elected President of Nigeria, he will do for Nigeria more than what he did in Lagos State. In 1999 when the Fourth Republic began, Asiwaju Tinubu swore to make his Lagos State a model for good governance and development. Today, he has succeeded in over shooting the confines of that aspiration. He has a nose for attracting human round pegs in round holes that drive development.

“In Southwest we have highly educated persons. We have people qualified to be Nigeria’s President but we are saying that Tinubu towers above all of them.

“He made some of them who they are today. He builds capacity for people. He not only nurtures you but let you get to the high places. He is man noted to build human capacity. His ability to manage economy is demonstrated in Lagos State today.

“Any person in the South is qualified to be the next president in as much as power rotates between the South and the North but we are laying our emphasis on Tinubu.

“The APC is a party of principles and strong abidance by the moral tenets of equity and fairness. This is why the gentleman promise made by the fathers and founders of our party that power must shift to the Southern part of the country must be respected. Power rotation guarantees peaceful coexistence.

“A shift in power will be a confirmation of the fact that APC is different from the pack in upholding principles. If power shifts, as it surely will, who then is eminently qualified to lead this country into its desired Eldorado other than Asiwaju Tinubu?

“More than many others, Asiwaju has invested emotionally, deployed his energy and financial acumen in the present, past and future of Nigeria.”