National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, delivered a controversial speech at the 7th annual Bola Tinubu colloquium, held at Eko Hotel, Lagos, on Wednesday, March 25.
At the event that was dedicated to Tinubu’s 63rd birthday, he blamed Jonathan in corruption and attempts to bribe everyone. Moreover, Tinubu said that Jonathan administration re-scheduled the elections to make sure that Jonathan stays for the second term.
Read the main points of Tinubu’s speech below:
1. Not all Nigerians want a change for the collective good
Tinubu believes that “a powerful, small few benefit from the unjust ways of today”. “They profit so much from present inequities. Hence, they view as a personal curse the change most of us would count as a national blessing,” he said.
Further, he added: “They scoffed at the formation of the APC. They said it would never come to pass. They were wrong. Then dread came upon them. They tried to defraud the public by forming other parties with similar names. They only fooled themselves. We continue building our democratic edifice on a solid foundation of fairness, transparency and merit.”
2. The PDP holds office but has abandoned governance
“They hold power but have no good idea about the use of it. They lost over 200 of our daughters to Boko Haram. They lost part of our territory also. While they lay a heavy hand on the opposition the Chibok girls remain lost and Boko Haram continues to terrorize our people,” he said.
3. The PDP postponed the election to secure their positions
“On the eve of elections last month February, they postponed the exercise. They claimed security as their excuse. We know better. For Jonathan, an election held on February 14 would have been an election lost,” Tinubu said.
4. “Jonathan has exposed himself as a man who would rather wreck democracy than to live by it”
“He is like the shoeless boy given a complex toy. The more he plays with it, the less he understands the precious thing. In his desperate drive to hold to power, there is not one national institution Jonathan has left unmolested or untarnished,” he said.
According to Tinubu, Jonathan and his team would eagerly corrupt every national institution within reach to save his post. “Everything is for sale and nothing is left sacred.”
He added: “They have thrown money at Christian and Muslim clerics, attempting to buy two great faiths as if they were two cheap commodities. As such, they have attempted to turn our houses of worship into open dens of corruption.
“They have dangled money in the face of our traditional fathers believing their conscience is for sale. Many have been brave enough to cohere to the nobility of their office more than worry about the expansion of their bank accounts.”
5. Tinubu blames Jonathan and his administration for ‘starving the economy dry’
“There is no dollar in this nation that his hand has not tried to grab. No naira that his underlings have not tried to pinch. With people desperate for money, they let go a droplet here, a droplet there.” he said.
6. Credible reports show the current governance are ready to arrest APC leaders
“No one wants to be arrested but neither am I afraid. The threat of arrest will not silence me. I cannot keep silent when I see those who are supposed to lead the nation trying to purchase it on the cheap. The people’s exclusive right to elect the leaders of their own choosing cannot be negotiated away,” Tinubu said.
7. Tinubu calles for a commonsense revolution
“This revolution is strong but peaceful. It is a revolution to use our votes to throw out ineffective leaders. It is a demand for a true electoral democracy and the responsive leadership associated with it. It is a revolution to rescue us from violence, injustice and poverty.
“This revolution is not a violent one to tear things down. It is a positive one to rescue, repair and restructure the nation and its institutions in ways that further collective prosperity and well-being,” he said.
According to Tinubu, “Commonsense Revolution speaks to the need to elect patriotic leaders that can give hope to our best aspirations as a nation and people”. “It speaks to how we must elect thinkers and doers to work together to bring about a beautiful revival of the national spirit and the good fortune of the people,” he believes.
8. Tinubu said the APC is eager to “end the sad chapter that Boko Haram has written in our history”
“We must fight them boldly yet wisely. We must rebuild the afflicted area in a way that extremism may never take root again. If this requires revamping our fighting forces, so be it. A few “BuhariBattalions” and “Osinbajo Brigades” will do in months what the whole of Jonathan’s army could not do in six years.
“Some say we need a Marshall Plan to rebuild the region. They are correct in approach but mistaken in name. We shall establish a “Buhari/Osinbajo Plan” and it will work,” he said.
9. Tinubu suggests to bring recovery to the economy by using the APC’s fiscal and monetary space to jumpstart it
“Economic history tells us that countercyclical policy is the best remedy to what we face. To the present government, such talk is revolutionary. To me, it is common sense,” he said.
10. Tinubu said he didn’t regret joining the APC
“Almost a year ago, last April, we held the final Action Congress of Nigeria convention. At that convention, we decided to merge into the APC. At that convention, I told you: “History is upon us, asking something bold. Those who hear must respond to its call because history is impatient when it has set itself in motion. If we tarry, history will not. If we fail to act as the situation requires, history will still move forward and post its unanswerable verdict against us.
“A storm is brewing. Be not afraid. It is a positive storm carried by a positive wind. Those things that have no roots and offer no solution to the plight of the people shall be swept away. This storm shall change the political terrain forever. I am not afraid of this storm. In fact, I welcome it because this storm is us,” he said.
READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/409402-top-10-memorable-proclamations-tinubu-made-at-colloquium.html
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