By James Orji
Senator Dayo Adeyeye, chairman, South West Agenda 2023 has disclosed that Bola Ahmed Tinubu will win the 2023 presidential election by 12 million votes from the south west.
Adeyeye made the declaration, on Friday, amidst revelation, by Mallam Salihu Isa Nataro, an APC chieftain from Kebbi State that the North has begun a search for a running mate for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo ahead the 2023 presidential election. Nataro said during the week that Osinbajo, who has so far not indicated his interest in the race, is preferred by Northern elite to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari.
Nataro said “This development is hardly surprising. Osinbajo simply has no problem, as Nigerians would key into his usual jocularity. The man has nearly all what it takes to make a very good president for Nigeria. He is humble, almost self-effacing, a team player, a loyal follower of his principal and above all, very intelligent and self-controlled.”
SWAGA, a pro-Tinubu campaign group was inaugurated, on Thursday in Lagos by the governor of the state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Tinubu, a former Lagos state governor and All Progressives Congress, APC stalwart has just returned from London where he was treated for knee injury.
The politician has yet to declare his interest in the presidency, but some groups across the country, including SWAGA have been clamouring that he joined the race.
Speaking on a Channels Television programme on Friday, Adeyeye said the former governor will have a smooth sail in the 2023 presidential election. According to the chairman of the pro-Tinubu group, the APC chieftain will coast home to victory with at least 12 million votes from the South west.
Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari won the 2019 presidential election with 15 million votes according to figures declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The senator said Tinubu has a large following across the country and acceptable to a broad section of Nigerians.
According to him “When this movement started, we wanted our candidate who some people particularly in Abuja and some circles have been saying have no home base; he is no longer popular and all that. We wanted to prove to them that the man is very acceptable, not only in his home base but throughout the country.
“We want everybody in the South-West to rally around this man and support him and so far we have been very successful.
“We have moved round the palaces to see most of our top traditional rulers who have endorsed him.
“Charity begins at home; we wanted to solidify the Homebase. Once the home base is solidified, I believe other Nigerians, particular in our party, will feel more comfortable to field this candidate, knowing that he can win the election for them.”
Adeyeye said Tinubu’s best chance in winning the election is to secure the entire south west
He said “Don’t forget that one of the selling points for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 was that he already had 12 million votes in his pocket (in previous elections) particularly in the North-West and North-East. So, it was easy with support from a few other places for him to win the presidency.
“We are also saying that come 2023, the man we are projecting already has at least 12 to 13 million votes in his pocket and so it will be easy.”
Adeyeye gives a breakdown of how Tinubu will emerge president
“I am giving it (figure) based on what I have seen on ground having to transverse the length and breadth of the South-West and having seen people from political parties saying that when it comes to the issue of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, they will shed their partisan toga and embrace him and vote for him. I have seen that in the palaces of the Obas, amongst artisans and market women.
“When it comes to the issue of the Presidency in 2023, all of these people in unison, they will shed every differences and vote for this man.
“The votes in the South-West is more than 20 million votes. I am only saying 12 to 13 million votes is already assured and I say it with all sense of responsibility without fear of contradiction that those 12 to 13 votes are already in the bag,” Adeyeye concluded.
Meanwhile, Tinubu’s return to the country, on Friday, comes on the heels of suggestions that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is being positioned by certain interest in the North to contest the 2023 presidential election.
The vice president rode on Tinubu’’s influence to power, and any attempt to use him as a counterpoise to Tinubu’s presidential ambition, many say, will polarized the south west.
