Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, says his main challengers in the 2023 presidential race “are not as competent” as him to run for Nigeria’s exalting office. 

In an apparent reference to Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Tinubu noted that the two politicians had no track records compared to him and his achievements as a former governor of Lagos. 

“None (of them is qualified) because they are not as competent as any other person out there. They have no track record. None of them is qualified except me,” Mr Tinubu told the BBC in an interview aired on Tuesday when asked which of his opponents he would have supported if he was not running for president.

Mr Tinubu believes it is his turn to be the president of Africa’s most populous nation, underscoring his ambition with the now infamous expression “emi lokan” (it’s my turn to be president) during a political meeting in Ogun just before the ruling party’s presidential primary election.

Mr Tinubu, 70, used the expression to underscore his entitlement to the APC presidential ticket, having helped others to achieve their political aspirations, including President Muhammadu Buhari twice for the presidential seat. 

His infamous comment evoked national uproar from critics who pilloried him for feeling entitled to the nation’s top job as compensation for his past political interventions.

In February, Mr Tinubu will slug it out with Messrs Obi and Abubakar with 16 other presidential candidates for Africa’s most populous nation’s top seat.