Bola Tinubu, the presidential standard-bearer on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, has put himself up as Nigeria’s messiah ahead of the 2023 presidential election, describing himself as “the builder” and “the man who knows the way.” 

Mr Tinubu also absolved his party man, President Muhammadu Buhari, of the deterioration of insecurity and economic woes plaguing the country despite its many human and material resources. He accused the administrations of ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan of a looting spree forcing Mr Buhari’s regime to rule “under the weight of uncertainty.” 

Speaking further, Mr Tinubu said he was in the presidential race to break the shackles of poverty if elected. 

“Go out there and tell them a new hope is here. Tell them you’re following the man who knows the way. Tell them you’re following the builder; tell them,” the ex-Lagos governor declared. “You are following the man who knows the way. The design on this cap is a broken shackle. We are breaking the shackle of poverty and destitution. In the last eight years, it has been a party that inherited a troublesome nation under the weight of uncertainty.” 

Mr Tinubu, who spoke on Monday in Abuja during the launch of APC Women Presidential Campaign team, said never again would the opposition PDP be allowed to return to power. 

“Sixteen years of rudderlessness, of digging the hole of indebtedness of PDP. Never again shall they come back. Who are they? They are looters. Who are they? They are squanderers. They are a political party of termites,” he said during the inauguration of the Tinubu-Shettima Women Presidential Campaign Team at the State House Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja. 

Mr Tinubu’s fresh attack on the opposition PDP came amidst the opposition party’s internal wrangling shortly after ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar emerged as its presidential candidate. 

Mr Abubakar has been in a battle of wits with Governor Nyesom Wike, who has also been demanding the resignation of PDP national chairman Iyorchia Ayu.

Further blaming the PDP, Mr Tinubu stated, “We took over the worst pricing of crude oil, but still, the very determined, focused person (Buhari) was able to bail 36 states of this country who were not able to pay salaries.”